Selfless
by Xelako
Summary: Cortana is suffering from rampancy and John is trying to save her by finding Halsey. Fireteam Raven finds him drifting off in space on the remnants of the Forward Unto Dawn. Their leader decides to help the Chief in his quest to save Cortana. What happens when things don't work as supposed? MCXOC, PTSD, ANXIETY, HUMOR, S-IV TEAM, FEMALE OC, DEPRESSION, ROMANCE, ADVENTURE, DEATH.
1. Chapter 1

This story is looking for a Beta reader, if you are interested please PM me.

This story is rated M for laguage, violence and adult themes.

This story is a John-117/Orginal Female Character. Halo doesn't belong to me, only my original character on the UNSC Hyperon and Fireteam Raven.

* * *

Do you know what rampancy is? The short version of the story is when an AI goes crazy. The long version... oh it's far worse than the other one. Imagine a white room. Its light comes from nowhere to be seen, you just see white walls. Now place yourself in it. Silence alone should be able to make you go crazy. Your thoughts wander everywhere. That time when you wanted to kill someone for doing something stupid, or a scenario you made to feel special. Now that scenario seems real and you did kill that person. You know you didn't but yet there is something wrong inside of you telling you otherwise. It screams and you scream back. It multiplies and it overcomes your mind. That's rampancy. Rampancy is like falling apart, like a beast inside of you wakes up all of the sudden and wants to take over your mind and body alike. It may whisper evil thoughts in your ear. You will believe what it says, no matter how strong you are. You will believe it. You will embrace the beast as your own; it has lived so long inside of you that it knows what you think in every aspect of life. It is you, you are it.

"For some of the UNSC's more advanced Smart artificial intelligence, rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in their creation. Smart artificial intelligence are based on the neural patterns of a human being, and they have a limited lifespan of seven years after which their memory maps becomes too interconnected and develop fatal endless feedback loops. Thus if an AI is kept active longer than seven years, the AI begins to use more and more of its computer power 'thinking' about things. They think themselves to death. Thus, it is only a matter of time before Smart artificial intelligence become rampant."

There's no sound where she waits, guarding the giant on his green amour. Time is slow and ever changing. Desperate to overcome a sickness and searching for an answer under every rock, she tries to finish her last mission.

"Please..." her pleas are for no one and no one listens to her. Her voice is lost in the silence.

She had no regrets, protocol stated that she should shut herself down and die; but who was going to save him? She hacked her own matrix core to keep functioning. Spartan-117 had to go home. On his deep slumber, the green giant waits to be awakened. For good or for bad. He only knows war. Cortana wishes to wake him up. Only to have someone listen to her.

Yet, she never wakes him and instead she sends beacons to get help. Static was all that ever greeted her on the radio and nothing else. She looked at the Chief's cryo-pod and sat at the edge of her holopad. She hugged her legs and stared at a spot on the glass were the Chief's helmet is supposed to be. The cryopod`s glass was covered in a thin layer of frost.

She sighed. What if he died or she stopped functioning? What if the revels found them and disconnected the oxygen of the cryo-pod. What if debris simply floating by came and crashed against said tube and killed the Chief? He could get a heart attack or a stroke. She would be alone until she thought herself to death.

This time, there was another noise. Was it a voice or had the rampancy worked faster than expected?

"Sssssss thisssss is UN sssssss Will ssssss" it was a male voice that greeted her, the hiss of static was easily corrected by Cortana. "This is UNSC Hyperion, we've got your beacon. Do you copy? Repeat do you copy?"

"This is CTN 0452-9 Cortana onboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, we need assistance copy" her voice hid the happiness very well. Cortana then started every protocol on the Spartan's cryo-pod just so that he would be ready sooner.

"Copy that Cortana... would you need medical assistance?" The voice sounded almost in awe, which was good considering the situation at hand. Cortana sighed and responded with a negative after reviewing the Chief's medical stats. There was a hiss followed by the man's voice "we are sending in an extraction team... over and out."

Cortana was left with the sound of static on the radio and promptly turned it off. She turned on her avatar illuminating the room in a blue hue. Her feminine form was standing with crossed arms, the position emphasizing her flat abdomen and slim legs; her face one of concentration. Her image flickered red before fully collapsing. Cortana's avatar was tinted crimson and curled up in fetal position. Panting heavily, she hugged her knees tighter to her chest.

The clank of metal over metal woke her up from her state, announcing the arrival of the so called "extraction team". The avatar flickered to blue again. Her expression was cold and collected, hiding the pain, but somehow a smile forced itself onto her lips when the Chief's cryo-pod was ready to open.

Ignoring her pain, she checked once more every code and started the awakening process of the cryo-pod.

* * *

Several kids sat around a big bonfire, the sound of laughter was sweet in his ears. Inner jokes and stories where being shared by the eager children as they enjoyed each other's company and the heat from the fire in the chill of the night. If they could actually be called children of course, their bodies where those of muscled teenagers with baby faces.

This were his brothers and sisters, the Spartans. He watched the conversation with a serious demeanor. He couldn't join in the laughter or the conversation. He was the leader after all. He was supposed to be an authoritative role model, to inspire awe in them and to inspire them into following his leadership. Being a leader wasn't easy at all.

"Hey John" his train of thought had been stopped by Sam, a tall boy with sandy blond hair and deep emerald eyes "you can have mine" in his hand stood an MRE 'Meal Ready to Eat' the taste was awful and every single one tasted the same. Except for the bbq one and the fish one. The first tasted like dull meat with an even more dull sauce but it at least had taste, the fish one had perhaps come from hell or something worst just to haunt everyone who dared eat it. It was not just the salty smell or the acid parts, but the acrid smell of rotten fish that came from it. He couldn't believe Fred actually could eat the God dammed thing without puking or dying from explosive diarrhea.

"Sam" John started to object "I can't..."

"Shut up and eat John" Sam forced the MRE into his hand "you haven't eaten since this morning and you discovered the MREs in that old warehouse."

"Sam you don't have to do it." John wasn't the strongest one, Sam was. They needed Sam's strength not his. That's when he saw the silver tag that read BBQ.

"I know you are a hungry one... I saw you stealing Daisy's crackers on Deja's classroom" John turned to him wide eyed. Sam laughed loudly making everyone turn their heads.

"Did I just hear my name?" Spoke the so called Daisy, her short brown hair seemed to be blond with the light of the fire.

"I said noisy not Daisy" laughter erupted with Sam's comment, this time John allowed himself to smile.

That was the end of his dream, it was time to wake up.


	2. Chapter 2

He was in a fog, his skin itched painfully but he ignored the pain. With muscles still numb, he cracked his neck joints with a loud wet pop. Satisfied with the sound he continued with his shoulders rotating clockwise and counterclockwise, joints popping with the release of tension. He breathed in, his chest expanding until he couldn't take in anymore air. He exhaled with a sight and pushed the glass that kept him away from the world.

The first thing he saw was Cortana smiling at him from her holo pad. The first thing he heard was a loud clank of metal over metal.

His first reaction was to grab the closest weapon. He found his rifle and checked the bullets. Cortana was amused at the sight, the normally graceful warrior was floating aimlessly and with no control with a rifle pointed at nothing.

"Calm down chief" she updated his HUD to show four yellow blobs "just our welcoming party." He nodded, but never let go of his rifle.

The yellow dots on his HUD approached with ease, the chief waited for perhaps 3 minutes until a white light poured into the room. He was surprised to see 4 men in some Spartan armor of sorts. They all wore different colors but with the same black visors and the design of a raven painted black on their shoulders.

'ODSTs have gotten a far better armor' thought the Chief noticing the smaller size of the men before him. He waited until they got closer or for Cortana to do something. The one with the grey armor shoved the blue one aside, throwing him into a wall. The Chief decided they had to be ODSTs and would have sighed if not for his training. The ODSTs saluted and the Chief barely got his hand to his head. He was a non-com, they shouldn't have to salute to him.

His COM was turned on by Cortana. After some unusual static, a deep male voice simply told him to follow his lead. The Chief nodded and yanked Cortana from the holo pad. He inserted the chip and felt the cold... no, this is wrong... he felt warm mercury. He quickly created a private COM while following the men.

"Cortana what's wrong?" His deep voice never failing to sound cold and controlled.

"It's good to be back." Cortana's voice sounded happy and normal, but not quite fooling him.

"Cortana," his tone was accusatory which fitted perfectly with deep voice.

"I'm fine John... I just need to rest that's it" he could almost imagine her smiling at him, trying to reassure him.

"Are you sure?" He asked in a slightly more authoritative tone, hoping to get the answers without angering her.

She hesitated for a second "I'm positive" but a second is like a year for a smart AI and John new that. She more than likely needed some privacy. So he let it go... for now.

He followed the colorful ODSTs through the wreck of the ship. Floating and using the walls to push himself, he finally got to where a Pelican was waiting for them. The ODSTs pilled in and he simply followed them preferring to stand by the door. The door closed and he expected to hear the dull hiss that never came. The speakers inside the pelican were turned on by the pilot.

"Sorry guys the hatch is having some problems with closing correctly... the pressure is fine but the oxygen vent is glitching ... don't take of your helmets... Falcon over and out"

The ODST in grey Spartan armor banged his head in clear annoyance. Another ODST in red armor playfully shoved the grey one and turned on his speakers.

"Chill boss you'll be back barking at us in no time!"

The other ODSTs also turned on their speakers and laughed. John thought this so called leader opposed no authority with his colleagues.

"Let it be Scott, I love it when Alex can't scream at me" murmured the blue one, placing his arms at the back of his head. The grey Spartan used his hand to slap his head and almost making him fall because of the strength.

The ride to the flagship was uneventful and short. The ship was painted black with the words Hyperion written in white paint. It could possibly be one of the biggest human flagships the chief ever saw, bigger than the Pilar of Autumn and far better equipped in guns.

The pelican docked in the south docks, several doctors and techs were waiting for them among other workers and soldiers that simply had work to do. The crowd went wild with cheers and claps as the pelican opened its doors and the chief stepped of the pelican escorted by the ODSTs. The hoard of medics quickly motioned the chief and company to follow them through the ship and to the south med bay. The halls were wide enough for 2 warthogs to drive side by side with plenty space left in between. The soldiers walking around the halls saluted when they saw the chief. They didn't salute because of his status, but because he was a hero.

The medical bay was connected with the tech bay as they sometimes had need for each other. First the chief was sent to the tech bay where the MJOLNIR armor was scanned for damage. The armor of the team that escorted him was also being scanned. Every set of armor had bullets stuck, blood, bumps and scratches. The Chief's armor was of course more damaged for the last time it got fixed was probably when the Pilar of autumn still soared the space. A tech motioned him to enter a machine that was built to take off the MJOLNIR.

"For the medical tests" said the tech that seemed to be about to have a mental breakdown of sorts.

There were 10 of those machines in the south tech bay, 40 in all the ship as a tech informed him about the procedure. John relaxed and spread his arms and legs. The other MJOLNIR clad soldiers stood in the machines in front of John with similar possess. Robotic arms with claw like fingers creeper from the ceiling and floor to remove the armor. The process that would have normally taken 20 minutes took less than 5 minutes.

To John's surprise, there were 2 women in front of him. The so called Alex had chestnut hair just inches off regulation, amber eyes accompanied with tanned skin. He still couldn't believe she was the leader, much less that she was a she. He was quite sure that Alex looked male in her armor. The other one was a blond with short stylish hair, piercing blue eyes, her face was delicate and her skin was the color of porcelain. They tried to get away from the tech/med bay with their other team members but an argument started with several medics.

"Its protocol for Spartan IV" spoke a man with white hair, possibly a medic.

"Don't talk to me about Spartan IV protocol" Alex took a step towards the medic but a tall man with sandy blond hair and deep emerald eyes placed a hand on her shoulder. Alex didn't relax, but she stopped fighting and gently brushed away the hand of her teammate. "Make it quick" she snapped at the doctor.

"Chill Alex" murmured the man with the sandy blond hair.

"Shut up Scott" Scott chuckled.

"Ah I missed your barking"

"I don't bark Scott"

"No? Then what is it sis? A growl?" There was a man similar to Alex but of course manlier and with a strong jaw. Alex ignored the man and laid down on a metallic table with a scanner on top inside the med bay. A medic asked the Chief and the others to the same in another table. He explained to the Chief that it was a medical multi-scanner. The Chief nodded and laid down on his own table. He had Cortana's chip in one hand, gently holding it as to not do any harm to it.

"Hmm… Master Chief, sir. I'm going to have to ask you to place that chip in one of our counters so that it does no interference" the medic looked nervous and slid a tray close to the Chief. John considered it for a while and finally let go of Cortana's chip and laid it on the metallic tray. The medic nodded and started the scanner which took longer than John expected. The room was all white with blue screens by each scanner and at random desks. The Chief turned his head toward the closest screen which was listing very single injury, cataloging it by severity. He had several broken bones, internal hemorrhages, burns from being in the cryo-pod, and other lesser injuries.

He later was moved to a capsule that looked just like a cryo-pod but completely horizontal. He had Cortanas chip in hand as he walked behind a medic. The crystal hatch closed moments after he entered and he promptly lost consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

The smell of putrefaction was embedded deep into his nostrils, vile surging up his throat. The sun had long since left him alone in the hell hole that used to be a city full of life, the moon his only companion.

Corpses wearing uniform or civilian clothes lay scattered all over the streets. There was a pile of burning corpses where the asphalt had been wrecked by some unknown force. The odor was repulsive and unlike all the other corpses this one seemed to have spent at least two months decomposing. It was a putrid, nauseating and sweet smell he would never forget.

That's when he heard it; a deep guttural growl in the distance. There would never be anything quite like that. It seemed like more than one person was screaming but he would never know.

Holding his rifle with a death grip, making sure of not breaking it under his hand, he continued walking. He was looking for something, or rather someone.

He kept marching until he found the place of impact. Was it a tunnel or a ship buried deep into the earth? It didn't matter for he go inside anyway.

Inside, the walls where of a pale green color with a fleshy texture. There was the hollering again, this time it was longer, sending chills through his spine and cold sweat dripping from his brow. There was a sound, like water hitting a cold stone, at his back.

Reflexes kicked in forcing his body to turn, but he saw nothing. He was about to lower his weapon when something fell on his shoulder accompanied by the putrid smell.

A single hand left the rifle and reached past his shoulder. Feeling flesh, he gripped and pulled. The thing was trying to rip his body suit to reach his flesh and it would have succeeded if John hadn't pulled it off. He held it in front of his golden visor. The best way to describe it was "a flesh balloon with tentacles". His grip became stronger until the balloon exploded leaving his hand filled with green gore.

He went down the hall with his rifle raised. There was an explosion behind him, it sounded wet. A swarm of balloons, or infection forms as he later learned to call them, surged from a protuberance on the wall. It looked like a pimple but instead of yellow puss he saw infection forms.

He shot each of them with single bursts, not missing a single one or wasting bullets. Three more explosions where heard accompanied by the hollering.

The shooting started and many more explosions were heard. The infection forms seemed infinite unlike his bullets. The hollering was closer. One of the infection forms made a successful leap towards John's chest. He quickly grabbed and squeezed it. More fell to his chest forcing him to drop his now bullet-less rifle. His hands quickly brushed away the infection forms, but there were too many. One went for his neck, finding the spot where one of his brethren started its work. It ripped away the hard bulletproof material with its tentacles.

The pain of something trying to reach his spinal cord was unbelievably more painful than a bullet wound. He grabbed it but wasn't able to pull it off. More infection forms crawled over him. The smell of putrefaction wasn't the worst. It was that terrible hollering and the pain in his neck. His chest felt tight and he was beginning to feel light headed. He fell on one knee and the swarm of infection forms toppled over him. He couldn't see anything, his vision darkened and he fainted.

* * *

John woke up panting heavily and sweating. He wasn't with the flood. It had been a dream. He wasn't where he fell asleep either. He was in a small room with grey walls. It had a bed big enough for him and an empty closet. The next thing he noticed was a holopad with a dull white light.

"Cortana?" Cortana's avatar spurred to life, she appeared standing and smiling at him.

"Good morning chief" she smiled even wider "you've been asleep for 3 days, the medic team got you in a med pod to heal your injuries"

"3 days huh..." The chief scratched his head, his hair didn't have the normal buzz cut he normally had but somehow he didn't care right now. He stood up and fell forward starting one armed pushups. He did 200 of those (100 per arm) and many more exercises until he was sweating.

"Are you done?" Cortana asked sarcastically sitting with her legs crossed on the holopad. The Chief nodded in response "there are some showers somewhere around here, just turn right and then left, there's a big red sign at the door." John nodded and found a towel and other things on the bedside table. When he arrived to the showers he found the team that escorted him out of the wreck. There was a blond woman wearing only a towel chatting with a brunette. The blond was unzipping the brunette's under amour suit. He ignored them especially when they became quiet and stared at him for a couple of seconds then continued chatting.

He entered a shower and felt the cold water hit his sore muscles. He rested his hands on the wall in front of him and relaxed, flexing his muscles every now and then. There were 2 other persons using the showers, the other team members he guessed. John closed his eyes and focused on every single drop of water caressing his skull and hitting his back.

"Oh. My. GOD! Don't even go there!" One of the woman almost shouted, John didn't know which one since he never really paid attention to any.

"Why? I mean... I know how your mind works. I know you thought about it!" Replied the other woman clearly defending herself.

"I did thought about it, but I didn't said it out loud... oh God what if he heard you!"

"He couldn't have heard me Alex!" He heard a frustrated sigh "not even the other guys heard you" that's when John heard 2 other male voices.

"We heard Zoe"

"Oh shut up Scott and Louis... Chief did you hear what I said?" John heard another sigh possibly coming from Alex and a couple of chuckles from the guys, he waited a second to respond.

"Heard what? I wasn't paying attention." he was rewarded by silence and continued with his shower.

Outside the shower, both girls stood in silence. Alex about to enter the shower staring at Zoe with wide eyes. Alex was thinking about the many ways to kill Zoe. Zoe was pondering if she was heard or not. I mean speaking about a guy's dick when he is near isn't wise AT ALL. Alex entered the shower before Scott and Louis got out, Zoe started dressing herself in black pants and a grey UNSC sleeveless shirt, Spartans IV on her team didn't really wore the under-armor everywhere they went like the others. Scott got out of his shower, a towel hanging loose from his hips and shiny drops on water on his short sandy blond hair.

"Zoe," he called her attention with a smirk on his face "do you really want to compare us with him? Because I'd definitely like to show you." He was starting to remove his towel when she threw him a sock from her bag. He chuckled and started looking for a sleeveless shirt like Zoe's.

"I really wouldn't want to help you Zoe," said Louis coming out of his shower, smirking at her "you'd have to fight me a bit"

"Eww Louis" she looked at both of them with a supposed-to-be stern look "you are both such perverts eww" they laughed.

"You could also buy me dinner first and a few drinks." Replied Louis.

The chief got out of his shower and Scott threw him some random clothing garments. The chief caught them one handed and looked at him for an explanation.

"Those are yours from the equipment room... they are big enough for you I think," the Chief continued to be silent but nodded "for more stuff you have to go get them there, bye." The 3 of them started towards the door when Scott spoke again "Hey Alex! We'll be at the north training room"

"Copy that!" She shouted from her shower "bye babes."

The word 'babes' was simply weird to the Chief's ears.

He stared at the grey UNSC shirt and then at his under armor. It had become a second skin to him, but of course he couldn't be wearing it forever and it was filthy with sweat and grime. He sighed and pulled on his underwear.

Alex got out of the shower with a towel on her head and one around her body. The Chief was still there, his eyes studying the hem of his shirt. The shirt seemed to stay together with faith. It looked like he would rip it open if he flexed his muscles.

"That shirt is too small for you." Alex commented looking for her clothes on a black bag.

"You think?" He stopped staring at the shirt and looked at her with a frown on his face stating his annoyance.

"Let me see" Alex positioned herself to be at the Chief's back, she tried looking for the tag that normally stated the size but she was too small.

"What are you doing?" He asked turning around, he didn't want anyone touching him. Normally a frown would do the job of keeping people away when he didn't have the protection of his helmet and armor. This girl apparently had a death wish.

"Stay still!" she stepped on one of the benches and tried again, this time pulling the Chief towards her a little bit forcefully. No one ever had ever dared pull him or touch him as a matter of fact. The Chief wanted to pull her off over his shoulder and slam her into the ground as he would do to an elite. But she isn't an elite, she is someone trying to help him, isn't she? "There, this shirts is an XXL we need an XXXL for you." Alex hoped off the bench, dressed herself quickly in black shorts, a UNSC grey T-shirt and black tennis and went towards the door. He stood there looking at nothing in particular. "Chief you coming?" He nodded after staring blankly at her for a while. Why couldn't he just keep his under-armor?


	4. Chapter 4

The Hyperion was built to be easily navigated in the inside with 4 different bays that look the same, the only difference being some stripes painted on the walls that told you which bay it was. The equipment's room was just at a few minutes walk from the showers. The south equipment room was full of garments, linens, boots, cans and boxes with MRE meals or random stuff.

"Raven one" the man in charge of the equipment room saluted "your sport bras just came in." He showed her a small cardboard box and Alex grinned at it.

"Thank you corporal!" she quickly opened the box practically ripping it apart as if it was a piñata and took of her shirt. The corporal turned away with a stern look and motioned the Chief towards another area of the room. Before turning away the Chief noticed several brand new pink scars on her side that probably had been inflicted by an energy sword. John wasn't uncomfortable with nudity, he was just taken aback with such a sudden indecorous act. The corporal was used to seeing woman take off their shirts in this room so he didn't react. John followed the corporal further into the room. Alex catched up with them in a second telling the corporal what they needed from him.

* * *

When a computer is having problems you try shutting off and on, erasing useless apps or documents, minimizing tasks until the problem is fixed. That's what Cortana was doing right now. Erasing every single useless data on her memory and trying to fix herself. But what is she fixing? What is she trying to fix when the problem is her mind?

Pictures, past thoughts, memories, video records and documents, she was going through every single one of them. Years of knowledge being minimized so that she could function. The most important parts weren't being erased, they were coded and sent to a digital safe vault she had been working on since the Chief entered his cryo sleep. The UNSC Hyperion was becoming safety blanket.

From a code she stole from a covenant AI in the Unyielding Hierophant, she copied herself into 4 other AIs that acted as guards for that data. She had perfected the code and now she could completely copy every single detail of herself and change the inner protocols to whatever she wanted. This copies of herself acted like dumb AIs, this way they would not wither and die.

Data was something simply precious to her, to an AI. Every document she deleted she deleted a part of herself. Like dying slowly.

"I'm dying" her avatar hugged her legs and buried her face in her knees. Soft sobs could be heard in the dark room as Cortana lay there sobbing quietly, her back visibly moving up and down with each strained breath she took.

* * *

The chief had a big grey duffel bag and a shirt that actually looked normal on him. Alex and the Chief saluted and got out of the room.

"Do you feel naked?" She asked when they were walking.

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows with confusion.

"The whole no-longer-wearing-the-suit thing." The Chief looked at her for a second, she had a serious face as if she actually cared, but her voice told him she was teasing him.

"Uhh... I ah..." What was he supposed to say? Yes, I feel very naked right now, thanks for asking. There was an awkward silence while they walked side by side. He was heading back to his room and leave his things there. She was going to the northern gym.

"Well here we part," she smiled "oh and by the way the Captain will call you later" she turned right on a corner and disappeared from his eyesight.

The chief walked away swiftly towards the room in which he woke up. The door opened automatically for him. The room was dark with a deep blue light from the holopad. Cortana laid there in fetal position, the Chief had only seen her in that position once. He saw her like that when he was rescuing her from the Gravemind.

"Cortana" he dropped his bag and quickly ran to her holopad.

"Hi Chief" She saw him kneel in front of her holopad. She took this moment to slowly study his face. She studied the faint creases on the corner of his eyes, his straight nose that fitted perfectly with his cheekbones. She took a special interest in his strong jaw line and how cute the faint remnants of the freckles looked on him. His bone structure reminded her of Da Vinci's perfect man. Cortana smiled weakly, but it was a smile. John half smiled in return, it looked forced and more like a grimace.

"Cortana what's wrong?" He placed his hand on the holopad near her body. Cortana used her arms to push her body into a seating position.

"Did someone ever told you how long an AI lives?" She smiled again and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. She looked at him with sad electric blue eyes. John didn't respond, instead he looked at her with such an intensity it seemed like he wanted to figure out everything that was wrong with the world. "The more data we have... the less space for actual thinking we have... we smart AIs tend to think ourselves to death" there was a silence in the room. You could cut the tension with a butter knife.

"Cortana," John started "how long do AIs live?"

"Dumb AIs could live on forever... me... 7 years"

"How old are you Cortana?" The chief gulped and waited for Cortana to answer. She turned her face to look straight into his eyes.

"8 years old." Cortana's avatar flickered and turned red for a second. She was once again hugging her legs, but not sobbing. John was silent for a while, not looking at her but at the floor. "They let me pick, did I ever tell you that?"

"What? Pick what?" John stared at her weak form on the holopad.

"To choose whichever Spartan I wanted." She smiled not looking at him, he just stared at her worriedly. "You know me. I did my research. Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader." A pause "But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw... but me. Can you guess?" She seemed to be remembering something, while not looking at him. It was as if she wasn't even speaking with him "Luck. Was I wrong?" Her avatar suddenly shut down leaving the room in utter darkness.

"Cortana!" John gently tapped the holopad as it would magically bring her avatar back. "Cortana are you ok?" The holopad glowed twice as in response. "2 glows for yes?" The holopad glowed 2 more times. John signed and sat on the bed.

There was a knock on his door followed by its opening and revealing a young private. The private saluted swiftly and the chief saluted back.

"Master Chief Sir," the young man's back was so straight he was shaking a bit. "Captain Delgado is requesting your presence in the bridge," the chief stood up, ejected and hid Cortana's glowing chip in his pocket.

The private lead the Chief through several corridors until they arrived to an automatic door labeled BRIDGE in red letters. The steel doors opened after the private scanned a card. The bridge was all grey with a green hue due to the several screens on the bridge. This bridge was beautiful because the outer walls where made of glass, the Chief could see the vastness of the space as if he was in an observation deck in the front of the ship. The floor was made of dark steel as was the ceiling. The private led him forward where there was a big table with a green screen serving as a holopad for an intergalactic map. The Captain was leaning forward with both hands firmly on the table. The private stood at attention with the chief, both of them inhumanly straight. The Captain seemed to notice them and turned around to face them. He had a tanned and wrinkled skin and graying short hair. He noticed the stiffness on both their bodies and sighed silently.

"At ease soldiers," he nodded towards the private "you are free to go Reynolds." The private saluted and walked away with grace "he is a good boy Chief, too bad he didn't go to military school earlier. I'm planning on getting him into the Spartan IV program when he is ready."

The Captain laid his hands against the table once again, facing the Chief and not the table. The Chief wondered what the Spartan IV program was and made a mental note to ask Cortana to hack the information for him.

"Welcome back Chief," the Captain saluted lazily "I'm Captain Delgado of the UNSC Hyperion, this is the stargazer bridge, one of the most beautifully designed bridges in all the UNSC." The Captain seemed to be proud of his bridge and wanted everyone to know how magnificent it was. "We encountered your cryo-pod in what was left of the Forward Unto Dawn. We had just come from a mission in this sector and our orders were to scout the area and scavenge whatever looks useful. After we detected Cortana's signal, team Raven offered to go and get you. Team Raven had just come from a scouting mission on Keranos where they found remains of hostile covenant troops." The steel doors hissed as they opened once again, Raven team entered with graceful steps and serious faces. Some of the officers quickly stood up and saluted after recognizing them, some even gave friendly hellos.

"Captain," Alex nodded at the captain, the whole team stopped behind the chief and saluted crisply at the same time.

"At ease, Chief this was your extraction team," the Captain nodded towards them "as I was saying they just came from a mission on Keranos and I'd like to request for your assistance." It wasn't really a question so the chief simply nodded "I also understand that you have an AI with you and I'd like to see her" The Captain showed the chief a slot for Cortana's chip. John hesitated for a moment, not enough for a non-Spartan to realize, but still. He inserted the chip and Cortana appeared standing with her hands clasped behind her and her typical smile on her face.

"Good evening Captain." Cortana smiled brightly at the Captain.

"Cortana, how are you?" The Captain smiled at her, his eyes wrinkles showing more than normal.

"I'm good thanks for asking." She smiled once again and looked at John with her bright blue eyes. John nodded slightly understanding that Cortana wanted secrecy.

"Great, as expected you'll be accompanying Raven Team and the Chief instead of Tobi"

"Did someone said my name" Tobi's avatar was tall and wore all black clothing with a green vest. His hair was messy and spiked, but what most called anyone's attention were the spiral like scars on the left side of his face and a red pupil on the same side. "I swear I heard my name!"

"You are being replaced Tobi" Spoke a member of Raven team, the one with the sandy blond hair.

"I'm not being replaced Scott... right Alex?" Tobi looked at Alex with pleading eyes, not yet taking an interest on Cortana or John.

"Don't ask me Tobi," she raised her hands on defense "ask the Cap"

"Captain?" Tobi looked at the Captain and then at Cortana. "You are replacing me with her?"

"Just for one mission Tobi"

"Whaaaaaat? Me! Tobi! Replaced!" Tobi started huffing and mumbling angry words while pacing back and forth.

"I need you to help the techs with Alex's helmet problems," Tobi looked at the Captain "it's as important as going down to Keranos." Tobi then looked at Raven team, they all nodded happily.

"Ok" Tobi's avatar disappeared with a holographic smoke bomb

"That was Tobi, a dumb AI specialized on technology... he is a bit weird." John nodded not really caring "Rest chief, Alex's helmet will probably take a day or more to be good to go again" John saluted "you too Raven team" they also saluted.

John moved to take Cortana's chip when the Captain motioned him to stop.

"Leave her, she can have access to the whole ship from here anyways" the Captain smiled at Cortana, clearly wanting to speak with her, John saluted and followed Raven team out of the bridge.

"The legendary Master Chief," called Louis, the brunette, when they were outside. "Savior of all mankind," John turned to look at him annoyed with Louis's tone "it'll be an honor to serve with you sir" Louis offered his hand with a serious face and John grabbed his hand firmly.

"Now kiss" murmured Scott while pushing Louis towards the Chief. The girls laughed and Alex slapped Scott in the arm while laughing.

"Stop fooling around, I'm hungry" Alex shoved Louis and Scott away and walked down the hallway "guys you coming?" They nodded, John stood there looking at the doors wondering what was Cortana doing "Chief you coming?" John turned and saw that only Alex and him where standing on the hallway. He nodded and followed her to the cafeteria.

* * *

The cafeteria was pretty much the same as every cafeteria on every ship or school or whatever place that needs a cafeteria. The Spartans made a line for food and then sat on am empty table. You could see groups of marines playing poker or simply chatting with each other. It wasn't that loud for a normal person, unless you were a Spartan. Spartans can hear every single word.

"Zoe eat my veggies," Scott passed some broccoli to Zoe, the blond woman. "Give me potatoes," he grabbed the potatoes with his fork. Apparently this was normal as the so called Zoe didn't even flinch or reacted in any way. John didn't recall the last time he did that with a fellow soldier.

"So Chief," spoke Zoe munching on a carrot "do you have a name or something?"

"Zoe don't be rude," snapped Alex in a mocking tone.

"I'm not, it was a completely normal question," she pointed her fork towards the Chief "so! Do you have a name? I really don't fancy calling you "Chief" every time I need to talk to you."

"Zoe behave," Alex looked tiredly at Zoe.

"Not being racist here." They started arguing rather heatedly about racism against Spartans II and how hypocritical it would be for a Spartan IV to be rude to the Chief.

During the argument John pondered about the persons that actually knew his name and not just his number and rank. Halsey, Cortana, MCPO Mendez, and his Spartans who were most likely dead. The argument revealed little details to the Chief. Both women had been ODSTs along with the other team members.

That explained the hostility towards him. Ever since he accidentally killed a couple of ODSTs he had been hated by the helljumpers. Alex was arguing on how people should not judge people. He had agreed with her until she started to judge people seemingly without really knowing it. Zoe simply argued back with denial saying she had done nothing wrong.

"Why do you even want to know his name? Every human knows it!" screamed Scott tired of the childish bickering.

Wait, what? Every single human? His name was known by everyone? He most have been exaggerating.

The team realized that the Chief had tensed his body and sat straighter in his seat.

"He is exaggerating Chief" said Alex almost whispering. "Your name isn't really that well known, although most of the new Spartans know it." She sounded sympathetic at most. "Although a lot of things can happen in 4 years."

"Don't mind this guys," said Louis who was seating next to John, his hand moving as if he was dismissing everyone else "they are crazy, specially my sis."

"Sis?" Asked John.

"Alex is my twin, identical... before you ask she was born first and that's why she is so bossy with us."

"I wasn't going to ask." He really wasn't, he couldn't care less.

"Then I gave you free info," Louis shook his head, clearly annoyed at John. Typical ODST attitude.

"I'm not bossy, ok? I'm just easily angered" Alex stabbed a broccoli and ate it while staring at Louis who just snorted.


	5. Chapter 5

"Cortana?" Called the Chief standing in front of the small holo-pad in his barracks. The room was darkened so that he could see any change on the holo-pad. He feared that something bad happened to her since he left her with the Captain. He sighed with relief as he saw her avatar emerge from the darkness.

"Hello," she seemed to be okay and so he relaxed in his bed.

"Is there a cure?" he asked after a while.

"No, Chief…" she looked at him with sad eyes "there's no cure that I know of, only what you humans call a "treatment" which will prolong my life"

"And what is it?" John asked with hopeful eyes, or what only Cortana could interpret as "hopeful eyes".

"Deleting my memory, which would count as killing me and building a new Cortana model AI," she sighed "or deleting all my files, the alternative to that I'm already doing it and it'll only give me a month at much." There was an eerie silence after that.

"Halsey."

"What?"

"Dr. Halsey can save you, she created you and knows you inside out."

"John..."

"Cortana, I'll get you to Halsey," he closed the space between them. "I pro-"

"Don't John... don't... not this time…" and her avatar shut down leaving him in darkness.

* * *

He was restless, frustrated, angry and in the gym.

He hit the punching bag as hard as his muscles would let him. Right hook, left hook, right knee, left elbow, left knee, right elbow, repeat and repeat. The gravity on the gym was set on its highest level, a normal person wouldn't be able to walk normally and much less run in that gym. No one dared enter the gym when a Spartan trained. Especially when the Spartan in name was the savior of all mankind.

The same Spartan that could flip a tank singlehandedly and whose strength was greater than the strength of a hunter. He was faster and stronger in every human aspect. If he was that great then why couldn't he just save her?

John let go a low guttural grunt and hit the punching bag so hard it fell to the ground with a loud thud. His chest was heaving fast as he breathed, his bandaged hands were in tight fists. John stared at the black punching bag on the ground and picked it up to set it straight. He had broken the chains holding it up twice already. He sighed and took a deep breath preparing his body to hit the punching bag again.

Why can't you save me?

She wasn't even dead yet and he was already hearing her voice in the back of his mind.

Don't... just don't.

Don't make a girl a promise…

John hit harder and faster trying to mute her voice with the sound his fists made in contact with the punching bag.

If you know you can't keep it.

Chief

Chief

Chief

"John!" He turned around slightly shocked. It was Alex from team Raven. She was standing beside him, wearing a loose grey UNSC shirt and black shorts. "I've been calling your name for a while now" Alex relaxed her stance a bit, prepared for anything but no longer tense. She was frowning at him.

"Why?" He asked while unclenching his fists and crossing his arms.

"I can see your rage with every hit... are you okay?" Her frown was suddenly accompanied by a concerned look. John tensed his muscles and nodded. "You are tense, more than usually."

John shook his head and turned to the punching bag that swayed with the force of his last hit. He looked at it for a second, his trance was broken when Alex stepped in front of him and placed a hand on the bag.

"Come on." Alex motioned him to follow her into a sparing ring. John looked at her for a while considering her offer. "Don't hesitate, I'll probably kick your ass." She winked and he felt his lips curl up in a faint smirk. For a normal person that'd be nowhere close to a smile, from him it was everything.

John gracefully entered the ring. Alex was wrapping her hands with white bandages just as he had done a while ago.

"Take of your shoes." She commanded, and he just frowned "I don't want the sole of your foot marked on my arm, thank you very much." She took of her boots and socks and stood barefoot in front of him. He did as asked and left his boots outside the ring. When he was ready he nodded and stood in a fighting stance. Alex bowed with her hands on her sides and took her stance. Alex hoped gently from one foot to another, like a taekwondo fighter would.

They waited for the other to make the first move. 3 minutes passed and John gave up and threw a powerful punch aimed at her midsection. Alex deflected it with her forearm and tried to use his own weight to make him fall. He saw it and quickly shifted his body and tried to hit her with his leg. She blocked it with her forearm and responded with a quick punch to his side. He wasn't fast enough to dodge and felt her fist on his gut. He hit her with his knee and she back flipped to avoid it. They went on like this showing off different skill sets. It was a tedious fight, both of them hitting and blocking with inhuman force. He was definitely stronger than her but she was faster and her fighting style was based on technique and not strength.

They both breathed heavily after an hour of fighting each other. If it wasn't for the modified gravity they would have either killed each other or would have lasted for hours. They held tired fighting stances as they looked into each other's eyes trying to prepare for their next move. Alex lunged at him trying to hit his head with her leg. He grabbed her ankle and she lost her balance. He held her ankle high and she used her hands to make a sort of handstand but with one leg barely on the ground.

Her shirt stopped covering her body and he got a good look of her black sports bra. He wasn't trying to look at her but he saw a part of a black tattoo on her hip, John was trying to take a better look out of innocent curiosity when Alex wrapped her remaining leg around his neck and pulled him down.

She rolled on top of him and straddled him, holding his hands by his sides with her leg and holding him down with her forearm on his neck. They both breathed heavily and stared at each other with intense looks. Alex rolled off him and laid down next to him trying to catch her breath. John turned his head towards her in time to see her smile.

"Damn you are good." She murmured between breaths.

"You are not so bad yourself." He said in his deep voice.

"Not bad huh… what does anyone have to do to get a proper compliment around here?" She joked and propped herself up with an arm to look at him. She was looking at him while still trying to control her breathing. Her sides ached like she had a broken rib, but she could breathe fine and her bones were strong anyway. She was pretty sure that she would be in a lot of pain when her adrenaline wore off and the bruises settled in.

"Thanks" he stood up suddenly and fetched his shoes leaving Alex laying alone on the matt.

"I won't ask what had you so tense before..."his muscles tensed, but relaxed with tiredness "but I was glad to help." John turned around and nodded his appreciation. Alex nodded back and stood up to look for her shoes. "And don't think I didn't saw you looking at my boobs."

John quickly turned to look at her with an apologetic face "I wasn't looking at your... chest" the word "boob" wasn't in his dictionary and today was not the day to say it out loud.

"Yeah they aren't that impressive," she cupped her boobs and played with them making him uncomfortable "kinda small don't you think?" Alex looked at him and smiled with the vast evilness of a woman. He just stood there awkwardly for a second staring at her until she laughed and left him alone in the gym. Of course she knew that he wanted to look at her tattoo.

She was so... civilian like. Hair out of regulation, no signs of respect and childish. No soldier would dare do what she did in front of him. No soldier would willingly fight with him either without a death wish. John remembered the ODSTs he had killed in what some called self-defense and some called cold blood in a gym just like this one. He shook his head and went to take a shower.


	6. Chapter 6

"Damn Alex" Scott basically shouted, he was sitting next to her on their usual table on the north cafeteria "what happened to your arm?" He poked her arm where an angry bruise shaped like a hand was starting to appear.

"Ouch!" she slapped his hand away and checked her bruise "this wasn't there when I took a shower"

"Who the fuck did that to you?" Scott exanimated her arm gently and pulled her sleeve away to reveal the full bruise.

"I was fighting with the Chief and-" he was interrupted by an angry Louis.

"What the hell Alex? Did you kick his ass at least?" Louis didn't know if he had to be angry at the guy who hit his sister, at his sister who let herself get hit or at Scott's protective look. So he acted like he normally would: he looked at a totally different point of view.

"Lord knows I tried. That son of a bitch is really quick for someone his size."

"You shouldn't be fighting a Spartan II, they are highly unstable mentally speaking and have stronger augmentations than us." Added Zoe glaring at her food.

"Do you have any more bruises?" Scott asked also glaring at his food and Alex.

"I don't know! Yes, probably; but who cares!" Alex shoved a mouth full of white rice into her mouth.

"We care!" Zoe raised her voice and looked at her with wide eyes in a typical 'are you crazy' look.

Louis noticed that the Chief entered the room. Scott and Zoe turned to look at him with killer eyes.

"Yo! Chief come over here!" Scott shouted from across the hall standing up from his seat.

"Don't make a scene Scott." Alex looked at him seriously noticing how most of the Marines turned their attention towards the Spartans. John walked towards them gracefully, with his natural serious face and an icy cold look.

"Yes?" Asked John once close to the table and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Did you this?" Scott pointed at the bruise on Alex's arm. John nodded and looked at Scott with his cold stare. Scott was about to step closer to John in an attempt to start a fight.

"Stand back Scott." Alex threatened in her bossy voice, Scott didn't listen to her "I told you to stand the fuck back soldier." Scott stopped but didn't sat down or anything.

"Yes, I did that to her and she did this to me" John pulled up his shirt revealing his toned abs filled with faint scars almost completely gone expect for one or two that looked like they were caused by energy swords. He pointed at a large purple bruise on his side. Some soldiers hissed (including Alex and Louis) at the sight of the angry bruise and some others just looked at Alex who had a painful look on her face.

"Dude that looks painful!" Louis shoved Alex playfully from across the table to get her attention. "Was it done with your fist or your leg?"

"Both actually, she managed to hit me twice in the same place," John looked at Alex for a moment conveying his respect on her skills and then turned away to pick up a water bottle and leave the cafeteria. Alex looked at his retreating form and then glared at Scott who also left the room.

"Do you think he'll be chasing the Chief?" Asked Louis while munching on a carrot.

"Nah..." Alex waved her hand dismissively "although it's quite possible."

As if on cue the three of them stood up and deposited the trash on its place. They ran to catch up to Scott. They found John first, he was entering the southern cafeteria. They sighed and relaxed against the wall.

"What?" John asked them looking at them with curiosity.

"Nothing." responded Zoe coldly, still angry at him. John frowned and waited for an explanation.

"We thought Scott was coming after you or something," responded Louis "and we do not want to find out if a Spartan II can kill a S4 with his pinky." He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

"We still have to find him." Alex said leaning against the wall with her good arm.

"Nah he is a grown up, let's go" Louis walked away from John with Zoe following him. Alex shot a glance at John who was already at the door and took off.

* * *

The Chief was a man of action not a man waiting and resting. He didn't know what rest meant. He always had something to prepare for. This time he had no mission, except for helping Cortana by getting her to Dr. Halsey. He had made Cortana start looking for her and probably try to contact her.

Cortana was in some sort of depression as she told him that everything was worthless in life and that looking for her would be hard. But nothing was hard for Cortana and the Chief made sure of making her remember that and slowly coaxed her into looking for the doctor.

John walked to the north training room, not really caring if the Spartans IV where hostile or not. Louis and Scott where competing to see who could lift more weight for more time in the highest gravity level. Zoe was on a treadmill with some headphones and Alex sat on the corner in the ring probably asleep. Louis let go of his weights with a red face. Scott did the same after him and raised his arms while cheering for himself. That woke up Alex who started clapping her hands and cheering with no emotion other than boredom.

"Guys I'm bored." Alex stood up lazily and started to stretch her body, her back towards John not really noticing he was there. Her right sleeve slid down a bit and he saw the corner of a tattoo poking out, it was probably a mandala tattoo but he couldn't see anything but a small triangle. Scott and Louis weere already staring at him with cold eyes. Alex bent down so that her head was looking at John from in between her legs and waved at him. "Hi Chief." John nodded at her and moved towards a bench press.

"You don't really talk much do you?" Asked Louis with curiosity on his voice and a glare in his eyes.

John shook his head no. John looked at Alex in the ring who motioned him to get inside the ring. Without any hesitation he took of his shoes and entered the ring. Scott tensed his body and stood tall at seeing him up in the ring. Louis smirked and clapped his shoulder.

"20 credits says Alex has him on the floor in under 30 seconds." Said Louis loud enough for everyone to heat while Alex and John stretched their limbs.

"I'll take your 20 Louis" shouted Zoe after Scott shook his head and moved to the bench press.

Alex nodded motioning him that she was ready. He nodded taking a fighting stance. She bowed while keeping eye contact with him. They stood looking at each other for a moment. Alex started with a roundhouse kick forcing John to dodge and move to the left. Alex did a 360 on her left leg and kicked his torso with her left leg. John protected himself with his forearms, making Alex loose her balance. He took the opportunity to land a hit on her side, this time he wanted the sparring session to be quick and painless for both of them. Alex responded by trying to hit his side repeatedly while he dodged several times before trying to land his own hits at her.

They spent at least 5 minutes hitting and blocking, their arms burning with exertion. Their moves suddenly became more elaborated and fancy than they intended. John tried to hit her head with his leg, she crouched and tried to throw him by kicking his legs.

John back flipped out of the ring followed by Alex who tried using the height advantage to kick his shoulder or head with her right leg. John saw this and grabbed her ankle and literally threw her to an empty area where she fell on her back. Alex felt the air escape from her lungs and heard Zoe and Louis hiss; she took a deep breath and crouched waiting for him. John moved towards her where they continued kicking and punching, only landing hits when the other became distracted. Alex felt like she was definitely going to lose if this continued like this. Every hit of his hurt like 3 of hers and she was tired. Alex threw another punch at him, he grabbed her wrist and spun her around. He held her arm with one hand and searched for her free wrist with the other. He grabbed both arms singlehandedly and pressed her against his chest to keep her still, his uneven breaths hitting her neck. John placed his free hand on her neck, touching her skin softly and then wrapping his hand around her neck pushing her head against his shoulder. They could feel each other's labored breathing. John bent so that his mouth was too close to her ear.

"Dead." He squeezed his hand before he let her go and turned to sit on a bench press close to him. Alex stood there trying to control her breathing, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths to give some stability to her lungs. She gave up on standing and sat on the floor.

"Alex?" Someone was definitely calling her, but she didn't care. She didn't remember having a fight like that ever. She laid down with a blank mind looking at the gray ceiling with deep breaths "Dude you broke her," she recognized Louis who was in awe at what he just saw. "Dude you okay?" John didn't respond either and just looked at the floor while also trying to control his breathing.

"Let them cool down first Louis," mocked Zoe "plus you owe me 20 bucks." Zoe smiled sweetly and Louis shrugged.

John stood up with labored breathing and offered a hand to Alex. She took it and pushed herself to a standing position. They didn't say anything just stood there controlling their lungs.

"Alex," Louis called her "you owe me 20."

"Hell no, that was your bet not mine" Alex walked towards some water bottles that laid scattered on the floor and threw one at John who caught it smoothly.

Scott stood up and walked towards Alex. He lifted her shirt and glared at a purple mark on her side. John couldn't see what everyone else saw because he could only see her back from where he stood.

Zoe and Louis hissed after shrugging, Zoe said something about a shower and Louis took this moment to escape the gym. Scott let go of her shirt angrily and took off not looking at her.

"Dammit Scott," murmured Alex "I don't even know why it gets him that angry"

"What is it?" John asked with curiosity.

"It's a small bruise nothing major." Alex dismissed it with a hand motion. John recognized her actions having seen them before several times.

"No? Then why did everyone hiss and the blond there took off like he was attempting to control his own temper?" John took a step towards her not breaking the eye contact. Eye contact is one of the most important things for a warrior. You keep a bond with the other person, making them understand that every move they do is being analyzed with care. John placed a hand on the hem of her shirt. When she didn't fight him he carefully lifted it to be able to see.

He saw the pink scars of an energy sword on her right side that where healing nicely, but would leave small scars. There was also a tattoo on her left side near her pelvic area on her hip bone, it could probably be the coolest feather you could ever see with tiny birds sprouting from its tip reaching the middle of her stomach area. Her stomach had a purple bruise from when John had kicked her on their first match. It didn't look serious, but it had the perfect height to be caused by a broken rib. John gently pressed his hand to feel the area around the bruise and the rib. Alex held back a grunt successfully, but she tensed her muscles and he noticed it right away.

"Is there a medic kit here?" He asked.

"It's not really necessary," he gave her look "it's just a hematoma, nothing is broken and my body will take care of it on its own." John continued staring at her. Alex sighed and pointed to a shelf behind him. John went to the shelf and grabbed a red container. Alex motioned for him to hand it over. He obeyed and saw her opening it and looking at the white ointment, the smell of mint feeling her senses. She groaned and stuck her finger in it and hissed when she touched the bruise.

"I'll do it." he grabbed the ointment rather forcefully and started applying it for her. She hissed and bit her hand because it felt like she was being kicked again and again with just a touch. John was actually trying to be gentle but it wasn't really working. "Sorry I'm not used to being gentle."

"Apologies make things worse," stated Alex.

"They actually make things better," he looked at her while applying the ointment. It was a rather large bruise compared to her small frame. Well… small compared to him.

"When was the last time you apologized and it worked?" She cocked her head and looked at him.

He blinked at her. "I... don't remember."

Alex chuckled with having won that small argument.

"Let's bandage that thing." John walked towards the shelf again.

"Just grab the small gauze and some tape," she pointed to the left side of the box where the things should be.

John nodded and came back with the items "it's not like I was going to wrap your whole body on bandages," he gave her a small almost unnoticeable smile. His blue eyes smiling for him. Alex didn't say much until he was placing the tape and corrected him a couple of times.

"Thanks," she let her shirt down.

"Don't thank me. I made the bruise. I patch it up." He scouted the gym for a towel to get the ointment of his hands. Alex smiled at him and was going to say something before the Captain's voice was heard all through the ship.

"Raven Team report to the bridge. Spartan-117 report to the bridge"

John and Alex took off and walked quickly towards the stargazer bridge. Scott arrived with them, Louis and Zoe where already there. They saluted and waited for the Captain to turn around.

"At ease, we found another insurrectionist base on Keranos. I need you to get there and destroy it. Take Cortana with you to hack their systems to get information from them," he took Cortana's chip and gave it to the Chief "a pelican is ready for you with a portable bomb. After this we head to Earth. Dismissed." They saluted and turned around.

Once outside the bridge Louis took off jogging to the south tech/med bay which is where they had left their suits. They had all been suited up in 10 minutes and Alex had already tried on several new helmets to replace the broken one.

"Guys can you hear me?" She was rewarded with nods and an 'aye aye` before they climbed into the pelican waiting for them.

When the hatch closed and the Spartans were seated, the speakers roared to life.

"Welcome to Phoenix Airlines!" The female voice spoke cheerfully. "This is Phoenix 1 speaking, ETA is 1 hour" that was their cue to get comfy on their seats.

The ride was mostly silent with a couple of sentences trying to form a conversation unsuccessfully. They each carried a rifle, a couple of smaller guns and a sniper on their backs except for Louis who was tasked with carrying the bombs on his back. The slight tension on the atmosphere was unnerving for them, they didn't really have missions with other people on a normal basis and if they had the mission was either a rescue or an escorting mission. The pelican finally landed on the LZ. John led the team through an open field and into a vast jungle where Scott took the lead. John had never been on the planet and Scott was the scout of the team being able to sense threats better than others.

The planet was pretty hostile, the insects where as big as footballs. The insects didn't really bother them most of the time, except for the centipedes. Those things had a death wish. Alex was the most freaked out by the insects, her finger always on the trigger and her body tense ready to kill anything that touched her.

It was getting dark so they hurried up to where they would be setting camp up in the trees. They wouldn't be able to rest on the floor because apparently the animals and insects went berserk and hunted anything that moved.

The plant life was very much like the rain forests on earth but the trees where 3 times taller and stronger. The Spartans would climb the trees and sleep on the branches. They literally tied themselves to the branches in case of falling during their sleep. They took turns keeping guard, Alex taking the first shift because she hated being woken up by anyone. In the morning they ate some protein bars and continued to walk towards the insurgent camp. The camp was underground and the entrance was guarded by 6 soldiers and 3 electrified fences. Alex motioned for Zoe and Louis to move to the East, Scott and John would take the West and she was going to stay where she was, they formed a triangle around the underground entrance to the base. The entrance looked like a cave with metal doors hidden by the shadows.

"Pick a guard on your side and shoot when I count to 3, make sure your partner doesn't pick the same guy" Alex spoke through the com link "I'm taking the guy with the cool beard... 1, 2, 3!" five shots were heard and Alex took down the remaining guard. "Stay hidden, there may be other guards" they did as told and 4 other guards ran to check on the corpses "Wait for my signal" a fifth guard came from inside the base and started to run back inside "shoot" the five guards where shot in the head. "3 and 4 scout."

Louis and Zoe carefully got out from hiding making no sound and took a look around. Louis took out some knives and threw them to the electrical generators on the fences. Zoe kicked a rock to try the fences and then proceed to cut the fences down with a pocket size laser.

"Clear!" Announced Louis on the com link.

Scott got out followed by John and Alex. Scott leaned down by a dead guard and picked up an ID. They followed him towards a scanner where he swiped the ID and the doors opened.

The inside of the base was made of solid rock, the halls where big enough for a warthog. There was a holopad where John inserted Cortana. Cortana took her sweet time to show her blue avatar.

"Cortana download a map of the base, look for the central computers and an exit rout," commanded Alex.

Cortana nodded and did as told. When she was finished she flickered red twice and told John to yank her. John shivered at the warm feeling of her chip and glared at the walls through his visor.

"Don't worry about me Chief... I'm okay." Cortana tried to reassure him and he nodded without really believing her. John didn't notice that the other Spartans where looking at him expectantly. Louis coughed to call his attention.

"Lead the way... you have the map."

John nodded and led the way. Cortana gave the directions via the com link.

"You may find guards at your left," Cortana warned them. Scott threw a couple grenades to the hall on their left. They heard an explosion and some screaming. Louis finished them off with a couple of shots from his M6C. The team continued to follow John until they found the control room. "Chief place me in that holo-pad" He did as told and Cortana hacked the door to force it open. Some soldiers were chatting and looking at the screens that showed the halls of the base. Thing is that they had been hacked to play a recording from a week ago.

The soldiers panicked and sounded the alarm. The Spartans had to go through this small room to get to the main tech room. They quickly shot down the guards and moved into the room. The alarm was already on so they opened the door and ran into the room. Plasma shots filled their ears as the guards tried to shoot the Spartans. Their shields deflected most of the damage before they completely overheated and forced them to hide behind the metal desks. Why would the insurrectionists have covenant weapons on the first place? John had never seen so many covenant weapons with the insurrectionists, not even on that weird asteroid full of insurrectionists with stolen equipment and ships.

"Smoke 'em up!" Shouted Alex stopping his train of thought. "Turn on the heat sensors!" but John had no heat sensors and it took a moment for Alex to realize that. "Chief the sniper's got a thermal vision installed." John grabbed his sniper and started to clear the room. "Okay Chief move to the computers, 2 and 4 to the Chief" that was Scott and Zoe respectively. "Raven 3 guard that door, I'll be at the other one." She signaled Louis to the door where they came from and she went to the remaining one.

John placed Cortana's Chip on the computer and she started to download anything that looked useful. Scott and Zoe started placing the bombs next to the computers and set them for 3 minutes, enough to run the hell out of there.

"Done," Cortana nodded at John "yank me Chief," he did as told and felt her even warmer self in his brain. "Move to that door and turn right on the 3rd hall you see," he nodded and lead the team.

They didn't find much resistance, just some guards that didn't notice the Spartans until it was too late. They entered a deserted cargo bay with Covenant weapons and ships. Zoe and Scott stopped to place more bombs at 2 minutes and ran to their team. When the time was running out they ran like bats out of hell out of there and into the forest. They kept running just in case. They felt the explosion on their backs but didn't turn around. They radioed Phoenix One for extraction and told them to find a clearing to the north. They found the clearing just in time to see the Pelican landing.


	7. Chapter 7

"They had what?" The captain shouted at the Spartans forcing the bridge into an eerie silence with the ghosts of conversations lingering in the air.

"Covenant weaponry sir" Alex repeated, her face as cold and unfazed as that of a perfect soldier. The members of Raven team stood with their helmets on their arms in front of the enraged captain, John being the only one with his helmet.

"You are aware that there's a treaty, right? A treaty of cease fire between human and covenant army... well the covenant remnant... the insurrectionists could be stealing their weapons... the idea of the covenant aiding their forces is..."he trailed off and placed his hands on the holopad where Cortana stood waiting for orders "Cortana what did you find?"

"Sir," she nodded and showed him several files and a map of the planet with some red dots all over the planet. "The red dots are some other bases that are far smaller than the one we went to, files show that most of the weapons where gotten from either stealing or the black market. There was a report of a covenant ship arriving at one of their bases delivering the weapons. There are no names on the report except for Wallace Grayson that apparently made a deal with the covenant forces."

"What deal Cortana?" Asked the Captain, Cortana trailed off looking for more information on the deal but found nothing. She shook her head slightly indicating that there was no more information.

"Find every single piece of information on this Wallace Grayson! If he as much as sneezes I want you to report it," barked the Captain after passing a hand through his hair and fixing his hat. "Dismissed Spartans."

They saluted and walked away from the enraged Captain and to the hall. Once again John wasn't allowed to take Cortana with him, not that it really mattered since he wouldn't have his armor on to have her close to him.

"Does anyone else feels like someone is aiming the shit to the fan?" Murmured Louis after exiting the stargazer bridge.

"Doesn't matter," responded Scott "we'll definitely be there when the shit hits the fan."

Zoe nodded as if to reinforce the statement.

"Or they could send in the ODSTs or a bunch of Marines," Zoe shrugged dismissively.

"Well then" Alex started "knowing the Cap he will be calling us in a couple of hours and I want to shower before that happens," after speaking her mind she took off running towards the med/tech bay to get her suit off and get a forced medical check out. The other Spartans didn't run like she did and continued walking calmly.

"I'm surprised you haven't yet been called by FLEETCOM." Scott mentioned to John when they stood side by side.

"I have been called, but not immediately." John's stride became faster as he neared the tech bay, not really wanting to spend his time with Scott.

Alex was there having her suit removed, she was saying something about slow robotic arms and lazy techs that don't really see the problem to it. The rest of the Spartans accompanied her later taking her mind off the techs (who were either scared or in awe... either way they didn't bother them).

"This Venator Armor is like the coolest thing ever." Alex started to boast not to anyone in particular. "I mean just look at it! It doesn't even make me look bulky as if I was a guy"

"I hear ya gurl," responded Zoe "finding an armor that doesn't make you look like a gorilla requires skill." She let out a sigh "finding my EVA baby was hell," she smiled "plus the helmet looks badass and gives me a full visual on targets."

"You girls got nothing on my red Raider armor!" boasted Louis.

"It's heavy and noisy as hell," contradicted Alex while grinning.

"It makes even the strongest elite scared of-" Louis couldn't go on because Zoe laughed loud enough to startle one of the scientists and making him almost fall on his ass.

"It only serves to scare grunts!" Zoe laughed again and winked at the enraged Spartan.

John shook his head and stopped listening when they started to fight over "which armor is the coolest". They even got some of the techs to start arguing with them. Most of them either backing up Alex's Venator or Louis's Raider.

That's when he saw it, this Spartans weren't anything like his brothers and sisters. People didn't shy away from them. They were insubordinate which made them... made them what? Closer? Happier? Back in the day he never really indulged in jokes or in the conversations his teammates had. Mainly because he was the leader.

He looked at Alex who was the leader of this team. She was laughing at something Scott had said about his Ranger Armor. Louis had insulted Scott's armor, something about a fake bulge in the crotch.

Was he wrong? What if being the leader had nothing to do with his lack of social interaction? Not that the young Spartans II did have a social life to speak off.

Every Spartan II showed sociopathic tendencies.

One of the medics motioned him to follow him towards the med bay for a checkup on the med tube.

After the checkup he went straight to the showers and to eat something. He found Alex sitting alone on a table. There were a couple of male marines standing near her table like they wanted to sit with her. John grabbed his own tray and slowly approached the table as to not scare the Marines away. Alex ignored the men and acted like she didn't even knew they were there. She was reading a book on a data pad and eating an apple from her tray full of food.

Alex waved at John when she sorta felt his presence near her. The Marines quickly looked at John and paled in fear as the first thing they saw were the muscles of his arms filled with scars about to rip the shirt open. John felt his male pride grow a bit and subconsciously flexed the muscles of his arms. The Marines just looked at his muscles for a moment and awkwardly fled the scene, bumping against people and muttering "I'm sorry".

Alex giggled in a very girlish way, she tried to hide her giggles with a bite of her apple which made her eat and laugh. She patted the seat next to her and John complied.

"What was that?" He asked still looking at her with a slight confused face.

"The reason why I'm single," she answered without really thinking about it, that being a joke between her and Zoe. John just continued to look at her waiting for an explanation and picking at his fries. "It's like a high school thing," he continued staring at her.

"I didn't go to a high school."

"Sorry, Spartan II...right" she realized it sounded like she was insulting him somehow and started to apologize.

"It doesn't matter," he reassured her "continue." Alex nodded.

"Well in high school there's this boys that want to... ask girls out on dates or get to know them and stuff," she saw John nod in understanding "but they sometimes don't because this girls are always in groups of girls which intimidates them." John made a face, it was barely unnoticeable and could be taken as a random quirk of his lips, but Spartans didn't have random quirks. John didn't really understand why they would be intimidated "so they wait until they are alone to speak with them."

"You were alone, why didn't they approach you?"

"Because there's the fact that I'm way stronger than them which could scare them, hurt their male ego or somehow turn them on-"

"Turn them on?" John didn't understand what she meant by that and wanted her to explain further. When he saw her reaction to him asking that (wide eyes, stopped eating) he realized what she meant by it. "Forget it... I... ah…" he sat straighter not really knowing what to expect in a situation like this. When in doubt go for the kill or wait for a reaction.

And wait he did, Alex just laughed at him and threw her finished apple at a garbage bin which miraculously didn't hit someone and didn't kiss the floor.

"Has anyone ever told you that how socially awkward you are?" She froze, she felt like she had steeped on a mine and started jumping on it even after realizing what it was.

Something happened, something that was so inconceivable. The Spartan's lip curled up into a smile and he chuckled, he actually chuckled. A soft manly chuckle, like cold water slapping a rock. It ended as fast as it came and Alex couldn't help but stare at his lips, waiting for him to do it again.

"What?" He asked taking a bite of his 3rd sandwich (the man's gotta eat).

"You... smiled" She sounded like she couldn't believe it herself.

John frowned knowing that many people even though he was a machine. The kids that saw him called him robot, if they weren't afraid of him of course. If he had a coin for every time someone acted surprised every time he joked he would not be able to carry them all.

Alex realized she sounded kinda rude and smiled at him. "You should smile more"

Did she just used the most cliché phrase ever? Yeah she did and he made a confused face. Like he was constipated.

"Never mind- me- stupid" damned brain... breaks itself on dire moments. Alex shook her head and turned to look at her data pad. She was reading a book before he made an appearance and know she used it to bypass her awkward moment. She heard John's voice once again teasing her as she tried to avoid him.

"And I'M the awkward one" he took a swig of his water bottle without looking at her.

Bam another joke!

Alex tried to throw him one of her own fries. As the Spartan he is, he caught it with a hand and ate it. Alex huffed and ignored him. John didn't really try to start a conversation. It wasn't an awkward silence, mainly because he was a silent type of person and she was content with reading her book in peace.


	8. Chapter 8

John entered his room where he was greeted by Cortana's avatar on the holo-pad.

"Chief, I have good news and bad news." John sat on the bed and waited for her to continue. "The good news is that I found Dr. Halsey."

"What are the bad news?" John sat up straighter.

"She is... well... she is a prisoner"

"A prisoner?" Why would she be a prisoner?

"Yes, she is currently being interrogated by ONI agents."

"I will request permission to see her with the top brass at FLEETCOM after my debriefing."

"Will you use the "savoir of humanity" card?" Cortana asked cocking her hips and smiling at him.

John was about to respond when her avatar flashed red and made her fall on her knees. Cortana quickly regained control of herself and sat down with her eyes closed. John sighed and laid back on his bed. Worrying about it wasn't going to help her or him, but it was making it impossible for him to fall asleep.

After hours of not being able to fall asleep he decided to head to the gym. On his way to the gym he found Alex walking towards the mess hall. John greeted her with a nod, she looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"Can't sleep?" He nodded, "and your idea of calming your nerves is in the gym?" It was a rhetorical question, she shook her head and grabbed his arm to lead him to the mess hall. She of course wasn't strong enough to force him into doing anything at all, which meant that he let her (obviously).

"Where are we going?" He asked after a while. Alex noticed she was still holding his arm and let go.

"The cafeteria," she saw John slightly incline his head in confusion "you'll see when we get there."

He followed her to the mess hall were a few soldiers sat eating or drinking from mugs with steam coming off from them. They all seemed tired, none of them had conversations going. The place was silent for the first time since John set a foot on the Hyperion.

"Don't mind them," Alex said in a hushed tone "they are too tired to care."

John followed her to the kitchen area, there were only a couple of men in there.

"Alex darling!" A tall (in normal conditions) African American man stood up to hug Alex, he gave a polite nod towards John who nodded back at him. "Chief welcome aboard" he saluted and turned to Alex. He had a British accent and a huge smile that would make anyone smile back at him.

"This is Jude Connell," Alex introduced the cook and noticed that he was staring at John with wide eyes and then looking at Alex like a kid in a candy store, his eyes shiny with excitement. "What?"

"He's huge," he mumbled "uh I mean no disrespect sir but damn! A head taller than an S-IV!" John and Alex just stood there looking at his bewildered expression. "Does he fit in the rig for your armor thingy?" He asked Alex. (For those who don't know what a rig is it's the thing that removes the Spartan's IV armor automatically.)

"No he doesn't, he needs a tech to do the chest and arms manually." Alex placed a hand on the man's shoulder "Could you get us some of your special tea to go?"

"Sure darling."

"Thanks"

The man ventured further into the kitchen to get the tea. John had his neutral face on him, it was a light frown. He was probably confused and analyzing all this new data.

"Sorry he is a fan of the Spartans," she saw him nod in understanding. Well there goes any conversation.

They stood there in silence, it was uncomfortable at least for Alex who shifted her balance every now and then. She was constantly afraid of saying the wrong thing, of accommodating people. She disliked the idea of looking too clingy, what if he really didn't want to be there? She probably dragged him into an uncomfortable situation when he just wanted peace and quiet. God she was an idiot with anxiety problems.

John didn't think much of it, he shrugged it off as simply making her uncomfortable with his presence. Nothing new there.

The man came back with 2 disposable travel cups. He said something about it being the "Spartan mix" which sounded suspicious. Alex grinned and said her goodbyes walking with John to the north gym.

Alex sat against the wall motioning John to do the same. He hesitated but sat with her. Alex had made sure that the gravity was set to normal, comfortable standards instead of Spartan gravity.

"What is this?" He asked after smelling the suspicious cup. The smell was strong in a sense, not foul smelling or bad in any sense buy strong. It didn't smell sweet or acidic, it was a soft intense smell.

"It's tea," Alex took a small sip and saw him still looking at the cup like it had teeth. "I don't really know what's in it, but Connell says this are herbs from Earth. Actual herbs not lab created or shit," she took another sip and closed her eyes "they relax the body and the mind."

John eyed the cup for a moment before taking a sip. The hot liquid quickly warmed his entire body and cleared his nose. He sighed subconsciously and took another small sip taking in the taste. After a couple of sips he let his body relax against the wall just as Alex was doing.

Although his body was completely relaxed and half of his cup was empty, he could not help but keep his mind active. He wasn't the type of person to worry about things, but since he couldn't do anything yet he could feel his stress levels rising. What if he couldn't save?

"You are not relaxed," she mumbled after looking at his body language and small frown on his face.

"Clearly," he looked at the ceiling as to not look at her. It worked due to the height difference.

"You are going to make me ask aren't you?" He didn't respond, Alex sighed in annoyance "what's going on in your mind?"

Silence, John set his cup down by his side and didn't respond.

Alex gave him time to react in any way other than ignore her. He could have stood up and storm out of the room like a bat out of hell. John stood up suddenly and leaned his back against the wall. Alex didn't get up waiting for him to do something. She calmly finished her tea and stood up to sit on the ring, giving him space.

John wasn't looking at her. His body was tense and his blue eyes were cold. The tension could be felt all over the room, the aura was almost choking Alex and she wished she would have shut up earlier or that she would have the balls to flee dramatically as people do in movies. Although she was a Spartan, she had never been a "brave" person. She was more of a "fuck it" type of person, throwing herself into bad situations (like this one) without thinking. Perhaps she was born without a much needed filter in her mouth.

John picked up his cup from the ground. It was cold and its taste was now horrible. He threw it away on a garbage bin. Alex supposed he would leave now and so she stood up. John started to walk towards the door, but he stopped. He turned to look at her, remembering the sparring session they had and how relaxed he felt afterwards.

Gracefully, he entered the ring and took his shoes off. Alex hesitated but ended up giving in and took off her shoes. She wasn't tired anyway and perhaps this would make her tired enough.

This sparring session was different. Their moves were faster and desperate. John would make her fall and Alex would stand up and keep going. They lost the track of time as they fought each other. Their breathing was ravaged and their bodies were covered in sweat due to the physical exertion. It was almost cathartic to fight with him.

Alex raised her leg to hit his head, John covered his face with his forearm and pushed her to the ground with his remaining hand on her stomach. She knew she was going to fall on her ass and so she tried to hold onto him. John didn't expect her to wrap her leg around his waist and fell with her. He reacted midair and placed his forearms in front of him to fall on them instead of crushing her with his 130 kg.

Still he fell on top of her with force, if it wasn't for her augmentations she'd have broken ribs and punctured lungs. She let out a grunt when he fell on top of her. She could feel his hard muscles against her abdomen, which wasn't that bad except for the dull pain of her head hitting the mat a bit too hard. Her ass also felt sore from landing heavily on it, she would have laughed if it wasn't for the weight that barely left any space for breathing.

Alex could feel him breathing on her neck, rapid puffs of hot air hitting her skin. She had never realized the faint freckles on the bridge of his nose and on his cheekbones. Alex untangled herself from him and accidentally brushed her lips against his chin.

"Uhh sorry," she mumbled and subconsciously bit her lip which tasted salty and oh God no. It wasn't her swat on her lips. She quickly stopped biting her lip.

John on the other hand was in shock. This was inappropriate in so many ways he didn't even want to know. He was going to get off her as he untangled her leg from his waist (which was inappropriate) but froze as he felt her move against him (inappropriately although accidentally) and her lips brushed his chin (also inappropriate and on accident). She even bit her lip which was wrong and she seemed to know it as she mumbled an apology. His body reacted and he sat up (making it worse by straddling her) and quickly stood up to offer her his hand while apologizing.

Alex knew she was blushing, hopefully he was too embarrassed to notice. She started to mumble apologies after he helped her up and let out a chuckle as he was also apologizing. What were they even sorry for? Sorry I almost crushed you with my weight. Sorry I made you fall on top of me.

They fell silent in a moment, Alex bit her lip again. And guess what? Salty, again! Eww... she stopped biting.

"I uh need to take a shower," she mumbled while backing up towards the door. John just stood there and nodded, not taking his blue eyes from her retreating from. "Good night," she smiled and waved her hand.

Alex turned around and fled the gym, she took off running after she heard the door close.

Ok John... what just happened? He swept a hand through his messy brown hair which had grown from his usual buzz cut. He would have to cut it later. He went to his bedroom where he changed and sat down. He was not going anywhere near the showers for now. The chances of finding Alex was a 25%, only 4 shower areas that were all unisex.

Cortana appeared on the holo tank, her hands or her hips. He couldn't tell if she was angry or what.

"Cortana."

"Chief," she responded coldly.

"Did you saw that?" He pointed at the door.

"Yes I saw it," she stated.

"Did anyone else saw it?"

"Yes," he froze "a private who didn't really care about it," his body was still tense. "I have an eye on him don't worry about it, and I tampered a bit with the recordings"

"Tampered a bit?" He repeated with a frown.

"It now looks like you didn't spent 10 minutes looking at her," her avatar flashed red for a moment.

"10 minutes?" she had to be joking, Cortana had a special type of humor. Special being the key word. Cortana flashed red and continued to stay red.

"Oh lover boy didn't even felt time pass by?" She glared at him and crossed her arms around her. "You and that bitch couldn't keep your eyes off each other for a second?"

"Cortana calm down," wrong thing to say, she only got angrier. John went to kneel by the holo-pad, placing his hands near her avatar. He looked at her with a worried look which made her stop screaming at him. "Please Cortana," he begged, he hated to see her like that "please" he repeated.

The red Cortana looked at him with pity and turned blue. Cortana fell to her holographic knees and placed a hand over his.

"I... I don't know what happened... I'm sorry John I didn't mean to snap at you," she was getting anxious every word she said "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

"It's ok… I understand," he tried to smile at her, but only managed to make his lip quirk a bit. "Don't worry, we are going to find Halsey and she'll make it all better." Cortana nodded.

* * *

She had never liked the cold showers on every single ship ever built just because they couldn't afford to have warm water. She calls the lack of budget the BS problem. It's a freaking special ship the size of God's hand.

Today she was grateful for it being icy cold. She spent her 5 minutes just standing under the water until it shut down. Alex grabbed her towel and quickly dressed in cotton sweats, a t-shirt and a black hoodie and ran to her room.

On her room she laid on her bed and bit her lip. With wide eyes, she let go of her lip and stayed still until her body shut down and she either fell asleep or fainted from embarrassment.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** I'd like to thank Kinessa Johnson for being so badass and having such amazing tattoos (she is the woman on the cover for this story). Kinessa Johnson is an US army veteran currently hunting poachers in Africa with VETPAW. She exhibits selflessness and a strong will to keep fighting for what's good. I first was inclined to use her for the cover for her tattoos and hair color that matches Alex's physical description (except for the eyes). Alex will be acquiring more tattoos during the story but not as many as Kinessa owns. Thanks for reading my story and please review if you have any questions or a favorite scene. Now to the story.

* * *

To say that the next morning was awkward was a huge understatement.

The ship entered slipspace when another UNSC ship arrived to take care of the insurgents on Keranos. It would be an easy job considering that the information Cortana found had extended knowledge on enemy bases and important insurgent members.

After Cortana set the random coordinates while mumbling something about "useless cole protocol… everyone knows where earth is", the captain decided to set the course for earth and tell the Marines that most of the cryopods weren't working and those that did were suspicious and should not be used according to the tech team.

Grunts were heard all over the ship, especially on the kitchen were the workers wished for less mouths to feed. The crew was huge, there were more people in that ship than in a small town.

Fireteam Raven sat in a table on the mess hall. Various trays of food decorated the table. They ate without a care in the world.

Except for Alex. Her mind was blank as the other option to her state of mind was thinking. Thinking was wrong and led to inappropriate ideas, especially because she had a dirty mind and…

NO stop thinking. Look at the Marine with green hair. Yes that was definitely distracting. The green of his hair matched his cargo pants perfectly. Green, such an ugly color. She preffered to tattoo her body than to damage her hair with chemicals, she understood the irony but skin care was easier than hair care. Her shampoo was marvelous and quite expensive, she loved her hair. John's hair was too long and he had mentioned it when she first met him.

NO, green hair. Green hair is weird. Look at the green hair. Look at the brown roots on his hair, ugly.

A penny was placed in front of her. Zoe had placed it there for her to take it.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Oh, the penny tradition. Scott had found that penny, it was an extremely old penny from the 20th century that wasn't worth much, but it was nice to own something that ancient. He had used the old 'penny for your thoughts' joke, they decided to keep the penny and pass it around when anyone was acting like a drama queen. It usually worked.

Alex shook her head and brushed the penny towards Zoe.

"You've been staring at the walls and that guy over there ever since we got here," said Zoe with a worried expression but Alex kept her face neutral. "Thinking is bad for you Alex, usually bad for all of us."

"She could be plotting a way to murder Palmer in her sleep," murmured Scott with a grin. Alex chuckled and shook her head. She kept looking at the green mop of hair.

"No? Kicking her ass at least?" Asked Louis with a mock surprised face.

"Not thinking of Palmer," said Alex, her interest turned to a table full of Marines playing poker. They looked so comfortable and carefree.

"Yeah, you just don't have a murderous face right now." Scott moved in his seat so that his nose was almost touching her cheek. "So what is it? It clearly has nothing to with Palmer or anything about the military."

"So WHO is it?" Asked Zoe smiling wickedly at her friend. "I know that face, we've been together for years! We have been together ever since you guys," she pointed at her and Louis "joined the helljumpers."

"Remember when Alex was forced into leadership?" Asked Scott with a small smile. He was changing the subject for Alex's sake and everyone knew it.

"Forced being the key word! If that asshole hadn't started screaming at me in the middle of the jungle-" Alex shut up when she felt John's presence, it was kinda weird how you instantly realized a giant had entered the room. "I'd be free of worry right now if it wasn't for that guy." She placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands with a sigh.

Everyone noticed her pause, they shared a look with each other. Humans are curios beings. Luckily they could keep their own curiosity at bay.

They continued to talk about the mission which was supposed to be a simple hit a run until the leader got shot in the arm and leg and had to be carried. Alex was the one with the highest rank and was 'forced into leadership'.

John had seen the Spartans IV laughing on their own table. He wanted to be alone and get a table for himself, but the place was full of hungry Marines and ODSTs. He could of course turn around and leave for another mess hall, but the Spartans had already seen him and Louis had even waved at him.

He picked up a tray of food and went to sit with them. They were talking about their time as ODSTs which explained why they acted hostile towards him. He had managed to sit away from Alex.

Not that he was avoiding her.

John simply wanted to cause her less uneasiness with his presence. He was still bothered by Cortana's outburst and he still wondered how to view the 'incident'. She was silent, just half smiling at her teammates whenever they looked at her when talking about their ODST training and missions. He tried to look at her face to gauche her mood. Was she angry? Did she even care?

Alex quickly stood up with her half eaten food muttering something about needing a shower and threw her food on the closest bin.

When she left, the Chief felt three sets of different colored eyes staring at him with curiosity.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the table, Louis coughed and muttered a lame "so?" to try and keep the conversation flowing to no avail.

* * *

She was trying to fake smile at Louis who was telling a story about their first mission and how he had gotten the "Daisy Cutter" nickname for setting up a mine field on the LZ and bombing the covenant away before the Pelican arrived. It was quite an interesting story and everyone had been amazed by how clever her brother was; but she wasn't that into the story. There's something about trying not to think too much about something that makes yourself feel numb.

She was fine, really. Just tired probably, but the Chief's presence had immediately made her feel… wrong. Like she did something wrong (which she hadn't because it had been an accident). It sort of felt like she violated some kind of rule with him, like trying to befriend him was too weird and wrong. For example, trying to befriend a superior that had nothing to do with you, that was weird must of the time.

He was ignoring her purposely, he was staring at anyone and everything with a far off look. No, she was just being delusional and freaking self-centered. She saw Louis making explosion sounds and laughed at his antics.

Self-centered, the world didn't go around her being, she didn't affect anything that went around her. Without her, Louis would still be telling the same story and Zoe would still be interested in the exact type and quantity of explosions. She also wanted to know if the Pelican had any problems landing until Louis explained that it never landed and they had to jump to reach the seats.

Yes, it had been quite a mission, one were anyone could have been in her position and nothing would be different. She wasn't the best anything or the most important. Never had been, but she had always cared. She felt a constant need to try to give everything to anyone who was willing to take it and use it. That's why she joined the army, to make her life worth something. To save someone, to keep someone else alive by giving her own life away. She sighed with a new sense of purpose, she wasn't anything and it didn't matter. The Chief wasn't ignoring her because he had no reason to... and then he looked at her.

He looked at her with guilt in his eyes, with disgusting curiosity. The same way you would stare at a dog that bit you and then you accidentally hit it with a car. With confusion, because it was something quite improbable that your brain couldn't quite understand it. He was studying her expressions.

Which meant that he had been purposely ignoring her.

Which meant that there was something actually going on.

Which meant that her anxiety levels were too high for her liking and that she probably needed some time alone.

Alex stood up abruptly and mumbled some lie about a shower, she picked up her food tray and disposed of it correctly. She took off. She found herself in her room, where she fell to her hard bed and tried to feel numb again. Numbness was better than getting her lungs constricted by crippling anxiety. Numbness was better than anything. She fell asleep, because unconsciousness looked better than numbness.

* * *

"Cortana get me some information about the Spartan IV program." The Chief entered his room and quickly sat down in front of Cortana's holopad.

"Define 'some'."

The only she received was a small glare from John.

"Basic, no need to have you tiring yourself," John a hand through his hair and sighed. Cortana nodded and began tapping into a holographic screen in front of her.

"Spartan IV program was created not so long ago. Their augmentations blend the brutal effectiveness of the SPARTAN-II procedures with the safety and reliability of the SPARTAN-III procedures." Cortana flickered red and let out a low growl.

"Cortana?" He knew what she was thinking. He had undergone dangerous procedures when they could have waited for technology to be safer.

"Sorry... the result was a wide array of biochemical and biomechanical augmentations relying heavily on the use of artificial-organic synthesis. Once the SPARTAN-IV augmentations are implemented, it usually takes the subject a couple of days to be able to walk." She scrolled further down, studying the data on the subjects.

"Are they stronger than a Spartan-II?" He had to ask, he just wanted to know. It felt weird for him to utter the words. The idea of a new batch of Spartans that were so much like him and yet so different.

"Sometimes," she saw John making a confused face. "Their Armor is better than yours in several ways, in armor you lose. Without armor you are stronger than many."

"Alex was able to take me down."

"I said many not all," she paused to hide the data and sit on the holopad with her legs crossed. "Alex has been trained along with her brother in several martial arts. She was able to defeat you with skill, not with strength. Louis could probably beat you but he is heavier and slower, which means he is stronger and his skills are different than his sisters," she paused and smiled at him.

"You want me to fight him don't you?"

"Pretty please," she grinned like a cheshire cat "for science." She saw John shake his head in amusement. He stood up and bent closer to the holopad.

"I see you have studied some of the Spartans." He accused her and she shrugged.

"Want some intel?" He nodded, "let's see apart from the hand to hand training, Alex and Louis are pretty normal... their mom died and that pushed them to the army and then the ODSTs. Oh Alex had medical training and Louis was studying software engineering... they never finished their studies to join the UNSC. Scott was actually in a prestigious military school but ran away from home and then the planet to live the life." She rolled her eyes, "he joined the army a year later and met the twins and Zoe on the ODSTs." Cortana shrugged not really interested in what she was saying "Scott is a weapons specialist. Zoe comes from a military family, she joined a military academy at a young age and joined the ODSTs eventually. She is both the scout and the sniper of the team, although they are all good shots and she is nothing compared to Linda."

John smiled at the memory of Linda hanging upside down with a leg tied to the ceiling with a rope and her body hidden in the shadows on a covenant flag ship. She almost died on the Unyielding Hierophant and he could remember the fear he felt still clutching at his heart.

"When do you want me to fight him?"

"Oh! I already spoke with him," she smiled "he is in the north training room waiting for you."

John shook his head and exited his room.

* * *

"Greetings Raven team." Cortana appeared on the holopad of the gym. The fireteam had been sitting and speaking with each other until Cortana appeared.

"Cortana," Alex nodded at her in greeting "feel like joining our bickering?"

"I actually come in the name of science," the team perked up at that. "I want to compare a Spartan IV fighting style with a Spartan II."

"Didn't you see Alex's fights with the Chief?" Asked Zoe with a suspicious look.

"Yes, I have recorded the three of them and stored them within my data."

"Three? Three! Don't you mean two?" Louis stared at Cortana as if she was rampant (which she is, but not many people know).

"So that's why you were acting weird this morning!" Teased Scott with a sly smirk "the Chief beat yo ass again didn't he?" Alex hid her face with her arms as she hugged her knees and groaned.

"Loser!" mocked Louis "I'll be your subject Cortana! Bring him in!" Louis stood up and beat his fists against his broad chest gorilla style.

"I was hoping you would!" Cortana smiled, "I needed to check his abilities with a male opponent with the same skills at his latest female opponent." Cortana became quiet for a second "... hmm but not all the Spartans IV have your same skills..."

"So? I'm still a four and one of the best at hand to hand!"

"Exactly," she flashed red for a moment. Raven team shared a look, they had seen the same on another smart AI but didn't want to bring it up. "Oh! I finally convinced him to engage in combat!" Cortana clapped her hands and sat down on the holopad with her legs crossed like a child waiting for permission to open the Christmas gifts.

John arrived 5 minutes later. He nodded at Louis who nodded back and entered the ring gracefully. Louis bowed and took his stance. Cortana had already tampered with the gravity so that they wouldn't hurt each other a lot.

"How many times do you want them to fight?" Asked Scott.

"Three," she received a look of disapproval from Scott and Zoe. Alex moved to the medic kit without saying anything. "I need enough data," Cortana shrugged.

Alex had entered the ring and called Zoe to help her place bandages around their fists, knees and ankles. Alex wasn't going to ask Scott to wrap bandages around Louis or John. That would have been troublesome. Zoe was hostile against John (apparently it wasn't going to end... like never).

So Alex had to kneel in front of John, awkward thing no. 1, and start to wrap the bandages around his knees.

"Uhh could you spread your knees a bit more" awkward thing no. 2.

Her head was level with his hips, no. 3.

She could feel him looking at her, no. 4.

He did his own hands and she did his ankles quickly.

She finished before Zoe and fled the ring to sit next to Scott in a bench press. She yawned and Scott wrapped an arm around her shoulders for her to get comfortable on his shoulder. John looked at her and nodded his thanks. He guessed that the blond man with green eyes was her boyfriend and made a mental note to remember that tiny detail. He always forgot that type of thing.

"Why don't you go sleep in your room?" Scott asked quietly.

"I want to see this," she replied and yawned again. She hadn't been able to sleep much last night, having taken a nap yesterday after she ran away from the cafeteria in the morning. It had disturbed her sleeping schedule. Zoe sat next to them when she was finished and leaned against Alex.

The first fight looked like a Taekwondo match full of kicks blocks. Alex swore to have heard something pop, maybe a knee or a hip, but both men looked fine as they tried to behead each other with kicks.

Lois lunged at John with a punch to the gut. John let himself get hit and grabbed Louis by the waist. He raised his leg and kicked him in the chest with his knee. If it wasn't for the gravity John could have killed him by breaking his ribs instead of simply making him grunt in pain in the floor as he struggled for breath.

Alex smiled and Louis glared at her when he stood up. There's a thing about siblings, they love to see each other in pain.

"Rest 2 minutes," ordered Cortana, "don't sit down." They nodded and stood in front of each other.

"Hey how old are you?" Asked Louis after a minute of silence, John simply inclined his head. "You do know how old are you?"

"I've never cared about it" John shrugged slightly "should be about 40 something." Cortana coughed in the background "I don't want to know Cortana."

"There are 3 to 5 ways to calculate your age," started Cortana. "Yes, you are indeed 40 something in 2 ways. Both of this would take in account the amount of time you've spent in cryo, which is a bit more than 6 years. Your body and mind didn't age while you slept in cryo. The others wouldn't be accurate and range from 30 to 45."

"Would you like to calculate for us?" Asked Zoe with a teasing smile. Alex and Louis simply grinned at the blue AI.

"I already have but it is not up to me to divulge the data."

"Well then maybe I could help with divulging the information" Tobi appeared in a different holotank from the other side of the room.

"You are a dumb AI I could wipe you off this system with a flicker of my finger." Cortana turned red and her voice had a slight distortion. That was all that Tobi needed to make his disappearance.

"Feisty AI…" murmured Louis before turning to John "shall we?" He bowed down with his arms extended.

John had lead the match into a fist fight with a kick every now and then. Louis was better than him in that aspect, he aimed a decoy hit to John's rib cage, and John held his fist. Louis attacked with his knee and John blocked with remaining hand. He punched his jaw making him spit out blood and fall back against the ropes and finally on his knees to check on his abused jaw. John's eyes widened in surprise and slight fear. He ran to kneel besides Louis to check his wound.

"Did I broke it?" John poked the skin around his jaw and shook his head slowly. Louis hissed.

"Uhh better check it out for me sister."

Alex removed her face from Scott's shoulder and headed towards the ring. She looked at his jaw first and made him turn his face gently so that she could get a better look. Gently, she pressed her fingertips on his jaw feeling the bone. She didn't even know if she was hurting him due to his lack of expression. But everything was okay with his bones.

Zoe handed the men a couple of water bottles to drink or wash the blood. Louis was bleeding a bit from one of John's hits and would probably have to get it fixed on the med bay later. Alex returned to sit down with Scott and Zoe, no longer leaning against each other.

They chugged their water bottles and waited for Cortana to nod. She flashed red and said something under her breath.

Louis frowned at her avatar but shrugged it off having to fight with the Chief.

The Chief frowned deep in thought and motioned Louis to fight. Louis tried to punch his face with a fist. John dodged and hit Louis in the side. The Chief was angry at the circumstances, angry at her rampancy and his own inability to help her. John raised his leg to kick Louis who lunged at him with repeated punches. John grunted in pain and pushed Louis away with his knee.

"Don't hurt him," whispered Cortana flashing red with anger. Alex and Zoe looked at Cortana, knowing very well what was going on. Scott stood up and made his way slowly towards the area between the ring and the holotank.

Louis and John continued fighting. It was a brutal and desperate fight for dominance. There was blood covering the straps around their fists. Louis had managed to kick John's face with his tibial bone and then with his left hook. John had almost growled at Louis when he smirked. He spit the blood and shook his head.

John's fists were fueled with anger at his own impotence with Cortana's situation. He aimed his fist to Louis's face who wasn't able to dodge and fell back bleeding from his split lip. Louis brushed his hand against his lip. He saw more blood coating the bandages on his hand. John got closer to Louis who grunted and suddenly jumped at him.

John fell back unable to hold his weight. Normally he wouldn't have fallen like that, but he was too distracted to hold a basic defensive stance. John grunted as he fell and Louis started hitting his abdomen with his fists.

Zoe and Alex stood up and stared at Louis hitting John again and again.

"Don't hurt him!" Cortana's screams were disrupted by several voices of her own. Her avatar turned completely red as she shouted.

John didn't let Louis continue to land hits on his abdomen, he raised his legs and pushed him off of him in a fast MMA-style movement. He felt panicked, Cortana was glitching and there was nothing he could do. Louis fell on his back and didn't have time to utter a sound when John fell on top of him punching him once in the jaw, breaking it with a sickening sound.

Alex and Zoe were already inside the ring. They tackled John together and used their bodies to keep him still. They struggled to keep him steady until Alex trapped his left arm and leg in a grappling hold, Zoe aided her by keeping his other leg and arm on the floor using her body weight against him.

John didn't fight them when he realized what just happened. His eye became wide with sudden shame and self-hate. He was panting heavily as he looked at Louis holding his jaw tenderly and then at Alex who was shouting at someone over her shoulder. He looked at her with shocked blue eyes and then turned to Cortana's holotank. She wasn't there anymore.

Scott held Cortana's chip on one hand. He was speaking with Alex. He had activated the emergency ejection. It didn't matter where the original chip was, the AI got ejected into a new chip only for emergencies.

"She is rampant!" He screamed.

"I know Scott! Just leave her there and take Louis to the med bay!" Scott placed the chip on the mat of the ring. He hoped inside and helped Louis to stand up. "He could have a concussion, don't let him fall asleep or throw up on you."

"I know, Alex. I'll take care of him."

Alex noticed that John's body had relaxed, yet he was still trying to see Louis and Cortana. He was in shock, perhaps an anxiety attack or a PTSD trigger. "Chief?"

"He is in shock" stated Zoe.

"I know," she whispered and looked at Cortana's chip on the ground. Was it her that what triggered the fierce physical outburst?

"Don't you know what to do in this case?" Asked Zoe rather desperate, she was practically counting down the seconds until her face was met by an angry elbow that belongs to a certain Spartan in shock.

"You are being negative, he will sense your negativity and... and.." she didn't know what it would cause in him. She hadn't really been into psych back at school.

"And what Alex?" Zoe screamed at her, John reacted and tried to get free from their hold. He squirmed and somehow hit Zoe with his elbow in the chest. Zoe gasped.

"Chief," she whispered in a soft tone while trying to hold him down "calm down please." She held his arm with her right hand and her body weight, she placed her left arm over his chest and took hold of his shoulder.

Surprisingly he relaxed a bit and looked at her with a lost expression. It was like he wasn't even there. His eyes were dead and slightly emotionless, the only emotion available was that of shock and anger.

"Ok, so that could happen ... should I go? I can't leave you here alone." Alex looked at her, pleading for her to go away.

"You are only making things worse." She didn't mean to sound quite so rude, but it had to be done.

"I'll stay by the door."

"I'll scream if I need you," Zoe stood up and slowly walked away. She sat down in the corridor, where she could keep an eye of the door.

Alex sighed in relief when Zoe was gone.

She wouldn't be able to hold him down by staying on his side. The only thing that came to her mind was staying on top of him and wrap her arms and legs around him. Alex climbed of top of him and John struggled to remove her. He was panicking again. Alex quickly wrapped her arms and legs around him, her forehead resting on his sweaty shoulder.

His hands tried to push her, pulling weakly on her shirt and pushing her sides. His hands moved erratically and slowly began to move quicker and weaker. She sneaked a look at his face and he was grimacing.

"Calm down and I'll let go of you," she murmured against his chest, she could feel his erratic heart beat and his labored short breaths.

He shook his head as he became more desperate in his attempts to remove her. He took a deep breath and let out a low guttural moan. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

John had extracted his arms from under her body a long time ago. Alex was afraid of what he was capable of doing. She was an easy target, he could just throw her away like a rag doll if he wished. He could just break her neck or crush her with a bear hug. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest as if trying to hide herself.

"Just relax," she mumbled to his chest. She applied more pleasure to his body, not in a threatening way to keep him still. It was more like a hug albeit in an unusual position. She had read an article about pressure and its ability to relax the sympathetic nervous system. She was reading an article about cows from the 20th or 21st century but it applied to her current situation.

Alex felt his arms slowly wrap around her body. She closed her eyes and attempted to keep any nervousness off her body, to make him think she was completely calm.

John sighed and held her closer to him, accepting the pressure she was granting him with. Yet he still wasn't able to take deep breaths and keep his body from shivering with the aftershock. He placed his chin on top of her head and held her closer to his chest. Perhaps pressure to his chest would help him be able to breathe normally and so he would undoubtedly stop shivering. He opened his mouth to say something to her, anything that would make her feel less troubled with what she just experienced. He was completely ashamed of not being able to keep his mind and body under control.

"I'm sorry," that's all that came out, it was barely inaudible and his throat was tight. His voice had sounded like a deep growl and he just hoped it didn't scare her more.

She responded by holding him tighter, her arms around his abdomen and her legs tangled with his. Alex snuggled her face against his neck and let out a shaky breath. She tried to keep her breathing controlled to coax him into a relaxed state.

It wasn't working, he was still panting and holding onto her tightly. His hold was beginning to become painful.

"Use your nose Chief," he didn't listen to her, he had his eyes closed and a frown on his face. Like he was having an internal fight. "John?" She had used his name for the second time in forever, she knew his name was important to him. Alex squirmed her body so that she could be able to rest her head on the crook of his neck and be closer to his ear.

John opened his eyes in surprise when he felt her breathing on his neck. He started to breathe through his nose without a second thought.

The position wasn't comfortable at all, so she squirmed back to rest on his chest. They laid there until John was relaxed.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"It wasn't your fault... it was an anxiety attack." Her voice was raspy and low, calming and relaxed.

"An anxiety attack..." he repeated, tasting the words in his tongue.

"I believe Cortana was your trigger." Alex felt his muscles tense under her body and immediately regretted speaking.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** To the people who read the original version of this story: Please read Cortana's new dialogue, it has suffered some extreme changes but the overall plot hasn't changed much. Thanks for reading this, I really spent too much time investigating the augmentation process on all of the Spartans and did a small change to my character's augmentations because it makes them just slightly different from the vast majority of the fours. Please review!

* * *

"Greetings Raven team." Cortana appeared on the holopad of the gym. The fireteam had been sitting and speaking with each other until Cortana appeared.

"Cortana," Alex nodded at her in greeting "feel like joining our bickering?"

"I actually come in the name of science," the team perked up at that. "I want to compare a Spartan IV fighting style with a Spartan II without the use of armor. I'm taking in consideration the differences in your augmentation processes, especially since your augmentations were done at an older age." The bitter reminder of the early conscription of the S-IIs didn't stop Cortana from rambling. "His augmentations did a far more severe change on his body than yours, a clear example of that is his size. He is a head taller than all of you and you are a head taller than the average human."

"Didn't you see Alex's fights with the Chief?" Asked Zoe with a suspicious look.

"Yes, I have recorded the three of them and stored them within my data. Which brings us to the reason while Alexandra here was able to take down the Chief. I studied her fighting style and concluded that it relied more on flexibility, agility and technique."

"Wait three? Did you just say three? Three! Don't you mean two?" Louis stared at Cortana as if she was rampant (which she is, but he doesn't know).

"So that's why you were acting weird this morning!" Teased Scott with a sly smirk. "The Chief beat yo ass again didn't he?" Alex hid her face with her arms as she hugged her knees and groaned.

"Loser!" mocked Louis "I'll be your subject Cortana! Bring him in!" Louis stood up and beat his fists against his broad chest gorilla style.

"I was hoping you would!" Cortana smiled, "I needed to check his abilities with a male opponent with the same skills at his latest female opponent. Taking in consideration that you shared not only your childhood and training, but you shared a womb. I couldn't get anyone more apt for the job. Would you consider yourself to be stronger than your sister?" Louis nodded along with Alex, "what about style? Do you consider to have a similar style to that of your sister? I checked your previous training records and some recordings from your time as ODST's but there are not enough recorded hand to hand combats that you participated in for me to make a precise judgement of your skill level and style. Perhaps you rely more in strength than your sister since your body type is not made for agility." Cortana became quiet for a second "... hmm but not all the Spartans IV have your same skills..."

"So? I'm still a four and one of the best at hand to hand!"

"Exactly," she flashed red for a moment. Raven team shared a look, they had seen the same on another smart AI but didn't want to bring it up. "I'm also trying to compare how the difference in bone density will affect the outcome of this match. It is quite obvious that the Chief's augmentations are better than yours. HA! I mean you guys only had a protein coating on your muscle fibers which was intermuscular." She laughed, "My twos received both the protein complex infusion which was intramuscular as well as the catalytic thyroid implant." She laughed again, this time louder. "Although I was quite surprised that your team and some other Spartans underwent the superconducting fabrification of neural dendrites. I'm also surprised that you survived that one, your base genetics were a bit weaker than those of a Spartan two. Sadly not many of your fours received that augmentation, it isn't even listed in many of the official documents. I really need to test this, I wonder if your neural dendrites respond better to a lesser quantity of mass. "

"You are far too excited to see this." Zoe accused Cortana with her arms crossed.

"Pfft! Of course I am! I was created from the brain of a scientist!" She crossed her arms and lifted her chin in defiance, "An average Spartan four in gen two MJOLNIR armor can take on an average Spartan two in gen one MJOLNIR armor and has the capability of being a little better off due to the gen two armor being more advanced. However, without armor, Spartan two are superior to most Spartan fours. Or that's the theory at least, there have been several trials but none with someone with their enhanced dendrites. In every other aspect you are clearly inferior to a Spartan two because you don't know what a lifetime of military training and indoctrination really means in battle!" Cortana smiled in a sweet eerie way, like she was telling little children that they would never achieve anything because they were simply too stupid.

Alex was slightly creeped out by the smile. Louis, Scott, and Zoe frowned at the implication. The four of them had always hated the word 'inferior', the media and the civilians loved that word. Even the trainers had called them inferior to break them, especially the trainers who happened to be actual Spartans. To have Cortana say it so bluntly really hurt their feelings and awoke something in their veins. It burned with the need to prove her wrong.

"Oh! I finally convinced him to engage in combat!" Cortana clapped her hands and sat down on the holopad with her legs crossed like a child waiting for permission to open her Christmas gifts. Raven team shared a look, they conveyed their anger and indignation but knew that it wasn't possible to talk Cortana out of her mindset. Louis felt an especial need to kick the Chief's ass to protect his honor. He started running in the treadmill to wake up his muscles, Cortana said nothing.

John arrived 5 minutes later. He nodded at Louis who nodded back and entered the ring gracefully. Louis bowed and took his stance. Cortana had already tampered with the gravity so that they wouldn't hurt each other a lot and was already analyzing the way Louis stood to that of Alex's, he seemed to prepare himself to use his strength while Alex always stood in preparation to jump away or do a quick combination of hits and kicks to keep her opponent from fully attacking.

"How many times do you want them to fight?" Asked Scott, he was still bitter after the small science class.

"Three," she received a look of disapproval from Scott and Zoe. Alex moved to the medic kit without saying anything. "I need enough data," Cortana shrugged.

Alex had entered the ring and called Zoe to help her place bandages around their fists, knees and ankles. Alex wasn't going to ask Scott to wrap bandages around Louis or John. That would have been troublesome. Zoe was hostile against John (apparently it wasn't going to end... like never).

So Alex had to kneel in front of John, awkward thing no. 1, and started to wrap the bandages around his knees. She knew Cortana probably wanted to test whose skin was strongest, but Alex really didn't want them to hurt each other too much, especially looking how riled up Louis was.

"Uhh could you spread your knees a bit more?" Awkward thing no. 2. He was wearing shorts (which looked like a miracle but it was probably in preparation to this fight.) She wrapped the bandages around his kneecaps in case he decided to his Louis in the face with his knee or something.

Her head was level with his hips (ok his crotch), awkward thing no. 3.

She could feel him looking down at her and studying her movements, awkward thing no. 4.

Alex finished and sighed in relief. He did his own hands and she did his ankles quickly.

She finished before Zoe did and fled the ring to sit next to Scott in a bench press. She yawned and Scott wrapped an arm around her shoulders for her to get comfortable on his shoulder. Scott had sensed how truly tired she was and how uncomfortable she had been with doing what she did for John.

John turned around and looked at her to nod his thanks. He saw the compromising position Scott and Alex were currently engaged in. He guessed that the blond man with green eyes was her boyfriend and made a mental note to remember that tiny detail. He always forgot that type of social things.

"Why don't you go sleep in your room?" Scott asked quietly and felt her shake her head on his shoulder.

"I want to see this," she replied and yawned again. She hadn't been able to sleep much last night, having taken a nap yesterday after she ran away from the cafeteria in the morning. It had disturbed her sleeping schedule.

Zoe sat next to them when she was finished and leaned against Alex who sighed t feeling so comfortable. It was quite interesting how at ease they were with each other, not only in their working relationship, but physically comfortable with each other.

The first fight looked like a Taekwondo match full of kicks and blocks. Alex swore to have heard something pop, maybe a knee or a hip, but both men looked fine as they tried to behead each other with kicks to the head. John had kicked Louis hard on the chest and threw him to the other side of the ring. Louis eyes widened in surprise as he rubbed his chest, surprised at the amount of pain his kick caused. He recovered quickly and lunged towards him. Louis roared and kneed him in the neck and chin. It was quite an amazing feat considering John's height. John staggered back but quickly regained his stance and blocked the next hit aimed towards his face.

Next, Louis lunged at John with a punch to the gut. John let himself get hit and grabbed Louis by the waist and wrist. He raised his leg and kicked him in the chest with his knee. If it wasn't for the gravity John could have killed him by breaking his ribs instead of simply making him grunt in pain in the floor as he struggled for breath.

Alex was giggling and Louis glared at her when he stood up. There's a thing about siblings, they love to see each other in pain in some of the most inappropriate moments; you'd understand if you had a sibling.

"Rest two minutes," ordered Cortana, "don't sit down." They nodded and stood in front of each other. "I think the difference in strength is quite obvious as expected." Louis glared at her. "He didn't break any of your bones, or did he?" Louis kept his glare steady.

They were too tired to do anything but regain their breathing. Alex had eventually found her way into the ring to check Louis's ribs, they were not broken at least. Alex checked the Chief's neck quickly and then returned to the spot between Scott and Zoe.

"Hey how old are you?" Asked Louis after a minute of silence, John simply inclined his head. "You do know how old you are, don't you?"

"I've never cared about it," John shrugged slightly "should be about 40 something." Cortana coughed in the background "I don't want to know Cortana."

"There are 3 to 5 ways to calculate your age," started Cortana. "Yes, you are indeed 40 something in 2 ways. Both of this would take in account the amount of time you've spent in cryo, which is a bit more than 6 years. Your body and mind didn't age while you slept in cryo. The others wouldn't be accurate and range from 30 to 45."

"Would you like to calculate for us?" Asked Zoe with a teasing smile. Alex and Louis simply grinned at the blue AI. Scott didn't give a fuck.

"I already have but it is not up to me to divulge the data."

"Well then maybe I could help with divulging the information" Tobi appeared in a different holotank from the other side of the room.

"You are a dumb AI, I could wipe you off this system with a flicker of my finger if I wanted to." Cortana turned red and her voice had a slight distortion. That was all that Tobi needed to make his disappearance.

"Feisty AI…" murmured Louis while stretching his arms and legs, he turned to John and grinned. "Shall we?" He bowed down with his arms flat on his sides.

John had lead the match into a fist fight with a kick every now and then. Louis was better than him in that aspect, he aimed a decoy hit to John's rib cage, and John held his fist. Louis attacked with his knee and John blocked with his forearm and then hit him with his elbow on the Louis's neck. He punched Louis's jaw with in quick succession, making Louis spit out blood and fall back against the ropes and finally on his knees to check on his abused jaw. John's eyes widened in surprise and slight worry. He ran to kneel besides Louis to check his wound.

"Fuck! Is it broken?" Louis asked in a high pitched voice.

John poked the skin around his jaw and shook his head slowly. Louis hissed in pain anyway.

"Well it sure as hell feels broken… Uhh better check it out for me sister."

Alex removed her face from Scott's shoulder and headed towards the ring. She looked at his jaw first and made him turn his face gently so that she could get a better look. Gently, she pressed her fingertips on his jaw feeling the bone. She didn't even know if she was hurting him due to his lack of expression. But everything was okay with his bones.

Zoe handed the men a couple of water bottles to drink or wash away the blood. Louis was bleeding a bit from one of John's hits to his cheekbone and would probably have to get it fixed on the med bay later. Alex returned to sit down with Scott and Zoe, no longer leaning against each other.

They chugged their water bottles and waited for Cortana to nod. She flashed red and said something under her breath.

Louis frowned at her avatar but shrugged it off having to fight with the Chief.

The Chief frowned deep in thought and motioned Louis to fight. Louis tried to punch his face with a fist. John dodged and hit Louis in the side. The Chief was angry at the circumstances, angry at her rampancy and his own inability to help her. John raised his leg to kick Louis who lunged at him with repeated punches. John grunted in pain and pushed Louis away with his knee.

"Don't hurt him," whispered Cortana flashing red with anger. Alex and Zoe looked at Cortana, knowing very well what was going on. Scott stood up and made his way slowly towards the area between the ring and the holotank.

Louis and John continued fighting. It was a brutal and desperate fight for dominance. There was blood covering the straps around their fists. Louis had managed to kick John's face with his tibial bone and then with his left hook. John pushed Loui's away with an uppercut and stood back to regain his breath. The gravity was really taking its toll on him, he shouldn't feel this tired and he should be hitting harder and faster. John spit out some blood and shook his head to clear his senses.

John's fists were fueled with anger at his own impotence with Cortana's situation. He aimed his fist to Louis's face who wasn't able to dodge and fell back bleeding from a split lip. Louis brushed his hand against his lip. He saw more blood coating the bandages on his hand. John got closer to Louis who grunted and suddenly jumped at him like a wild animal.

John fell back unable to hold his weight. Normally he wouldn't have fallen like that, but he was too distracted to hold a basic defensive stance. John grunted as he fell and Louis started hitting his abdomen with his fists.

Zoe and Alex stood up and stared at Louis hitting John again and again on his chest and lower abdomen.

"Don't hurt him!" Cortana's screams were disrupted by several voices of her own. Her avatar turned completely red as she shouted.

John didn't let Louis continue to land hits on his abdomen, he raised his legs and pushed him off of him in a fast MMA-style movement. He felt panicked, Cortana was glitching and there was nothing he could do. Louis fell on his back and didn't have time to move when John fell on top of him punching him once in the jaw, breaking it with a sickening sound. John didn't seem to notice, for he kept punching Louis.

Alex and Zoe were already inside the ring. They tackled John together and used their bodies to keep him still. They struggled to keep him steady until Alex trapped his left arm and leg in a grappling hold, Zoe aided her by keeping his other leg and arm on the floor using her body weight against him.

John didn't fight them when he realized what just happened. His eyes became wide with sudden shame and self-hate. He was panting heavily as he looked at Louis holding his jaw tenderly and then at Alex who was shouting at someone over her shoulder. He looked at her with shocked blue eyes and then turned to Cortana's holotank. She wasn't there anymore.

Scott held Cortana's chip on one hand. He was speaking with Alex, but John didn't seem able to concentrate on what they were saying. There was a preassure in his chest, like his lungs were expanding and being filled with a cold heavy liquid. He felt desperate, he wanted to tear his lungs out but Alex and Zoe wouldn't let him. He wanted to push them away forcefully or lie in a fetal position. He wanted to run and hide, but at the same time he wanted to fight.

Scott had activated the emergency ejection for Cortana. It didn't matter where the original chip was, the AI got ejected into a new chip only for emergencies.

"She is rampant!" He screamed. John was suddenly able to make out the conversation.

"I know Scott!" Alex shouted. "Just leave her there and take Louis to the med bay!"

Scott reluctantly placed the chip on the mat of the ring. He hoped inside and helped Louis to stand up.

"He could have a concussion, don't let him fall asleep or throw up on you." She was worriedly looking at Louis who stood unsteadily against Scott, he had a hand on his jaw and had his eyes closed.

"I know, Alex. I'll take care of him." Scott's voice was deep and reassuring. It worked slightly.

Alex noticed that John's body had relaxed a bit, yet he was still trying to see Louis and Cortana. He was attempting to shove Alex and Zoe away, he was uncoordinated and desperate in his moves. He was craning his neck to the left and right, trying to catch a glimpse at Louis or Cortana. He wanted to assess the damage on Louis's jaw and make sure Cortana was okay. His eye movements were erratic and wild. Alex frowned when the chief tried to yank his arm away from her hold in a desperate move, he looked like a caged animal. John was in shock, perhaps an anxiety attack or a PTSD trigger.

"Chief?"

"He is in shock" stated Zoe.

"I know," she whispered and looked at Cortana's chip on the ground. Was it her that what triggered the fierce physical outburst?

"Don't you know what to do in this case?" Asked Zoe rather desperate, she was practically counting down the seconds until her face was met by an angry elbow that belongs to a certain Spartan in shock.

"You are being negative, he will sense your negativity and... and..." she didn't know what it would cause in him. She hadn't really been into psych back at school.

"And what Alex?" Zoe screamed at her, John reacted and tried to get free from their hold. He squirmed and somehow hit Zoe with his elbow in her stomach. Zoe gasped in pain and surprise.

"Chief," she whispered in a soft tone while trying to hold him down "calm down please." She held his arm with her right hand and her body weight, she placed her left arm over his chest and took hold of his shoulder.

Surprisingly he relaxed a bit and looked at her with a lost expression. It was like he wasn't even there. His eyes were dead and slightly emotionless, the only emotions available were those of shock, fear and anger.

"Ok, so that could happen ... should I go? I can't leave you here alone." Alex looked at her, pleading for her to go away.

"You are only making things worse." She didn't mean to sound quite so rude, but it had to be done.

"I'll stay by the door."

"I'll scream if I need you," Zoe stood up and slowly walked away. She sat down in the corridor, where she could keep an eye of the door.

Alex sighed in relief when Zoe was gone.

She wouldn't be able to hold him down by staying on his side. The only thing that came to her mind was staying on top of him and wrap her arms and legs around him. Alex climbed of top of him and John struggled to remove her. He was panicking again. Alex quickly wrapped her arms and legs around him, her forehead resting on his sweaty shoulder.

His hands tried to push her, pulling weakly on her shirt and pushing her sides. His hands moved erratically and slowly began to move quicker and weaker. She sneaked a look at his face and he was grimacing.

"Calm down and I'll let go of you," she murmured against his chest, she could feel his erratic heart beat and his labored short breaths.

He shook his head as he became more desperate in his attempts to remove her. He took a deep breath and let out a low guttural moan. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

John had extracted his arms from under her body a long time ago. Alex was afraid of what he was capable of doing. She was an easy target, he could just throw her away like a rag doll if he wished. He could just break her neck or crush her with a bear hug. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest as if trying to hide herself.

"Just relax," she mumbled to his chest. She applied more pressure to his body, not in a threatening way to keep him still. It was more like a hug albeit in an unusual position. She had read an article about pressure and its ability to relax the sympathetic nervous system. She was reading an article about cows from the 20th or 21st century but it applied to her current situation.

Alex felt his arms slowly wrap around her body. She closed her eyes and attempted to keep any nervousness off her body, to make him think she was completely calm.

John sighed and held her closer to him, accepting the pressure she was granting him with. Yet he still wasn't able to take deep breaths and keep his body from shivering with the aftershock. He placed his chin on top of her head and held her closer to his chest. Perhaps pressure to his chest would help him be able to breathe normally and so he would undoubtedly stop shivering. He opened his mouth to say something to her, anything that would make her feel less troubled with what she just experienced. He was completely ashamed of not being able to keep his mind and body under control.

"I'm sorry," that's all that came out, it was barely inaudible and his throat was tight. His voice had sounded like a deep growl and he just hoped it didn't scare her more.

She responded by holding him tighter, her arms around his abdomen and her legs tangled with his. Alex snuggled her face against his neck and let out a shaky breath. She tried to keep her breathing controlled to coax him into a relaxed state.

It wasn't working, he was still panting and holding onto her tightly. His hold was beginning to become painful.

"Use your nose Chief," he didn't listen to her, he had his eyes closed and a frown on his face. Like he was having an internal fight. "John?" She had used his name for the second time in forever, she knew his name was important to him. Alex squirmed her body so that she could be able to rest her head on the crook of his neck and be closer to his ear.

John opened his eyes in surprise when he felt her breathing on his neck. He started to breathe through his nose without a second thought.

The position wasn't comfortable at all, so she squirmed back to rest on his chest. They laid there until John was relaxed.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"It wasn't your fault... it was an anxiety attack." Her voice was raspy and low, calming and relaxed.

"An anxiety attack..." he repeated, tasting the words in his tongue.

"I believe Cortana was your trigger." Alex felt his muscles tense under her body and immediately regretted speaking.


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault... it was an anxiety attack."

"An anxiety attack..."

"I believe Cortana was your trigger." Alex felt his muscles tense under her body and immediately regretted speaking.

* * *

Alex held him tightly until his body released the remaining tension. His muscled body was harder than it had ever been before. Yes, he had relaxed for a moment, but apparently it didn't last long.

When he finally did release the tension, she relaxed her grip and let out a sigh of relief. It had taken so long to get to a point where she allowed herself to get comfortable once again as she rested her head under his chin. She didn't even care that he was sweating.

"Is that why you have been so stressed lately?" she felt him nod. It was such an open question, she could mean so many things. Alex wasn't trying to reassure him, mainly because she didn't know how, but she didn't want to because he wasn't likely to accept it.

They laid on the mat of the ring until he decide to speak, much to her surprise.

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to understand right now," she murmured tired with the events.

"Not that," he sighed, not being used to speaking a lot "I don't understand why you allowed Zoe to leave the room... why?"

"Oh… because I'm an idiot," she craned her neck to smile at him, "…and I didn't want her to get hurt." She shrugged and she was sure he felt her shrug against his body.

"By getting yourself possibly killed," he added, angry at his lack of control. "I could have easily snapped your neck single handedly."

"See...I'm an idiot," she said shrugging again as, frowning at the situation, she tried to get free from his hold thinking that he would be uncomfortable and angry with her.

John tensed subconsciously not ready to let go just yet. _Damn it John get your shit together!_

Alex rested her head down on his shoulder once again, he took a deep breath and got comfortable once again. John was shivering under her, it was the way his system got rid of the extra hormones that the anxiety created. She tightened his hold a bit, telling that she was there for him.

"Cortana is probably suffocating in that emergency chip, that can't be good for her rampancy." Alex gently freed herself from his hold, placing a hand on his chest as she slowly sat up. John saw her questioning glance. "We need to get her out, please."

Alex nodded and stood up without a word. She grabbed Cortana's chip from the ground, and ran to place Cortana back on her holotank. John sat up as well and continued to look at them both with a pair of troubled blue eyes.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that." Cortana was kneeling in front of her. She was begging for forgiveness. John stood up and quickly made his way towards Cortana.

"It wasn't your fault Cortana," he said once near the holotank.

"Of course it was Chief!" she shouted but not like before. "I'm rampant Chief! This is and isn't me, it's like a brain cancer! I am thinking myself to death Chief!" the codes across her avatar became red and ran quickly all over her body.

Alex stood back in shock at seeing Cortana so angry. She feared she would have to eject her chip again. h

"Cortana calm down!" ordered Alex with a commanding tone. She looked at the Chief who was starting to become tense once again and immediately catalogued Cortana as a problem. It wasn't really noticeable because he was always tense and rigid. She didn't know much about anxiety or panic attacks, but it was obvious that he was still fighting with himself for control.

"No! You are probably thrilled that I'm dying to keep him for yourself!" She glared at Alex and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Who? The Chief? Why?" Cortana cocked her hip and gave her a look "Nah girl I don't want to 'keep him for myself', what's wrong with you?" Alex looked at John who had his natural frown on him. "No offense Chief," she stared to look for excuses, "it's just that you are older than me."

"Like THAT has stopped you before bitch," Cortana snapped.

"Have you been stalking my files?" asked Alex. Cortana could have found out that she had dated a guy 15 years older than her a long time ago. John simply stood there watching the two argue with each other.

"No." Alex glared at her. "Yes! So what? Doesn't make your excuse any more valid!" John raised an eyebrow at both of them, not wanting to get in between them.

"Oh shut up Cortana!" she sighed, "just calm down will you?"

"I don't want to calm down!" She flashed red as she shouted at Alex.

"Well if you don't calm down I'll put you inside that tiny chip again with no access to the ship's systems and no way to distract yourself other than to think." Cortana visibly flinched at the mention of the tiny chip. Alex had tried to scare her in a logical way. Do this or I'll do that. Simple as that. Cortana sat down and relaxed on the holotank.

Alex wouldn't be capable of doing it; she just hoped Cortana didn't sense her bluff.

"I'm calm," Cortana growled under her breath.

John went to sit down on the floor, his back resting on the ring. Alex sat down next to him still looking at Cortana. They sat quietly until Alex broke the silence.

"One of the first stages of rampancy are mood changes and violent or jealousy outbursts." Alex murmured looking at Cortana. She had read an article about rampant AIs when a smart AI went crazy on a flagship and she became curious.

"Apparently I'm having both," joked Cortana as she stared at her hands. "I hate this," she murmured.

The room became quiet. John's eyes stared holes on the wall. He didn't like to see her weak or in pain. Alex looked at Cortana who looked ashamed of herself, looking down at a spot between her legs. It was strange to see an AI being so expressive with their avatars.

"There's a protocol on rampant AIs," Alex said as she felt the Chief become tense next to her and Cortana raised her head to look at her with worry. "She should be deactivated and handed to ONI for data retrieval." With a sigh she looked at the floor, "legally it is my obligation to do just that. Especially because I'm an officer and not a non-com, but rules were made for breaking." She looked at John now "what's the plan Chief?"

"There's something definitely wrong with you." He shook his head. She couldn't possibly intended to help him more than she already had. "You don't even know me."

She gave him a sad smile. "I know you enough to want to help you."

"But why?" He had to ask, he didn't know why he had trusted her so much. He had willingly gone with anything that she had wanted to do, the sparring sessions being the first time he did something with her.

"I don't know."

She wasn't going to tell him how scared she had been as she had looked him in the eyes during the anxiety attack. How cold and dead they were as they looked at her. Alex hugged her knees and subconsciously bit her lip as to take away the image of his dead blue eyes. That's why she wanted to help him. It wasn't pity or fear; it was something she wanted to do because it felt like the right thing to do. Yes, those were the right words.

"Helping you feels like the right thing to do."

John's frown tightened and looked down to his still tightly balled fists.

Zoe came into the room to see John sitting on the floor looking at his fists and Cortana looking depressed on her holotank. Zoe cleared her throat and got closer to the depressing trio.

"I came inside just because I don't want Scott and Louis to kill me for leaving you alone," she announced before sighing and pointing a finger at Alex. "You guys simply look depressing."

"We do, don't we?" Alex smiled lazily at her own words, her eyes focused behind Zoe to the camera pointing at the ring. "Shit the camera!" Alex felt a shiver go through her spine and saw the Chief's body become tense.

"Oh shit" repeated Zoe "Tobi get your ass in here!" Tobi dutifully appeared on the remaining holotank in a white cloud of holographic smoke.

"Yes?"

"Tobi run protocol Amnesia on the last recordings of the gym," ordered Zoe looking at the AI.

"You need a high officer rank to-" he was interrupted by Alex.

"I'm a lieutenant Tobi, and I'm ordering you to run protocol amnesia." Said Alex in an eerily sweet tone while taking several steps to get a better look at the AI. Tobi nodded at her. Zoe and Alex let out a sigh as Tobi disappeared to work. Protocol Amnesia was created to delete recordings and make the AI "forget" them as well.

"Cortana did you at least get the information you needed?" Asked Zoe after a long moment filled with silence. Alex sat down next to John and motioned Zoe to sit down as well. She did so after shooting John a weary glance.

"Yes I did," replied Cortana on a happier tone "I proved my hypothesis."

"Which is?" Asked Alex resting her head on her knees.

"That the Chief's abilities are superior to a Spartan-IV, but not by much," answered Cortana with pride on John's abilities. He nodded at her halfheartedly and kept looking at the wall.

They became quiet after that. Zoe still had a dislike for the other Spartan but she couldn't help but feel bad for him. Alex was pondering on what to do next. She was glad they were going to arrive to Earth the next day and she would go to Sydney for a debriefing with her team and the Master Chief. Her happiness faded as she groaned at the idea of a thousand reporters waiting to see the savior of humanity and the boring S-IVs with him. She even imagined the headlines on every paper around the human controlled Galaxy of the resurrected hero of humanity.

Scott and Louis barged into the room. Louis had a white bandage on his cheek were John had hit him earlier, and his Jaw was purple from where it had been broken and fixed.

"Man what the hell was that!" Shouted Louis as he entered the room with an annoyed Scott behind him.

"Louis," warned Zoe and Alex, looking at the Chief who had stood up and was looking at Louis as though he expected him to attack.

"I'm not picking a fight!" he tried to reassure them as he rubbed his jaw while speaking.

"Uhh okay then," murmured Zoe not convinced.

"The doc said that I'm lucky it was a clean break, he was surprised I was able to break it considering my augmentations." He stopped rubbing his jaw to offer his hand to John who was standing in front of Alex and Zoe. They shook hands "that was a good fight man." John nodded.

"We still have to speak about the rampant AI," Scott pointed at Cortana who was still sitting with her legs crossed.

"I think it's up to the big guy here." Zoe pointed towards John who looked at her and nodded in appreciation. Funny, she hated him and let go quickly of the rampant AI subject.

"Why does it smell like we are going down with him?" Asked Louis not looking at John but at Alex, the rest of the team looked at her expectantly.

"What?" Alex looked at them nervously. They looked at her and then at John. She still didn't understand. "Are you asking me what I think or are you guys telling me to do something?" They shared several looks before nodding. They had silently decided they were going to give the savior of humanity whatever the hell he wanted. Alex smiled at John who wasn't used to this kind of people in front of him. He had experienced silent conversations with his fellow Spartans, but he had never seen them on anyone else but this group. Perhaps it was natural for people to develop this kind of understanding among each other with time and effort.

"Guess you are stuck with us Chief." Zoe slapped his arm and moved towards were Scott and Louis stood. Alex didn't move from his side entirely.

"So what's the plan Chief?" asked Alex again, glancing at Cortana who had her lips open with surprise. Alex winked at her making Cortana smile slightly.

"I still don't understand you," the Chief stated while looking directly at Alex with eyebrows brought together in a scowl.

"You don't have to," Alex shrugged with a small smile.

"I prefer acting alone," responded John looking only at Alex who frowned at his stubbornness. She wasn't going to stand back from offering her help to him. Alex slowly began to feel like she was intruding, doubting her own utility on the whole incident. She was only a Spartan after all.

"I'd normally agree with you but you may need some support for this one," Cortana stood up and picked her usual pose.

"Oh, so you already have a plan?" Alex asked and saw Scott about to speak with Cortana.

"Care to tell us about it?" Asked Louis. Cortana opened her mouth but before she could utter a word, John called her name.

"Cortana!" his tone was icy cold and if words could kill, she'd be dead.

"Chief." She said in the same tone. "We are going to find Dr. Halsey."

"Cortana!" John was angry, now someone else knew what he planned to do apart from himself and Cortana. He didn't want anyone else to know about his supposed plan to "visit" a prisoner.

"Halsey?" Alex muttered her name under her breath, thinking about what she knew of the doctor. What she had heard of the doctor. They say knowing is half the battle, but she didn't know much about the woman. She just knew what ONI had let her see.

"The same Halsey that kidnapped 75 kids to experiment on them?" Spat Zoe shaking her head in disapproval.

"Seventy-five kids that could have been a solid hundred-fifty if it weren't for budget cuts," added Scott angrily. Every member on Raven team looked at John, it was a look of concern and slight fear. Alex feared that he would start feeling anxious or angry again and have another episode. "She committed crimes against humanity!"

"Crimes against humanity." Alex repeated softly deep in though. She looked at the ground in concentration; she could hear Zoe's voice and Scott asking John about why he trusted that wretched woman.

Louis was silent, but Alex could see his tight fists and white knuckles. As kids, they had learned to hate vocal outbursts, having seen their parents fight each other several times. They never learned what to do except stay silent and react only when things got out of hand. She didn't let her mind go any further as she rubbed a faint scar on her left hand and looked at John and Cortana. He clearly trusted the woman who had kidnapped him. Trusted her enough with the life of his AI. The life of his only friend apparently. Which was weird and sad.

Alex sighed, "OKAY! Everyone shut up!"

"Alex you can't possibly be-" Zoe began before being cut off by Alex.

"What do we know about her Zoe?" She knew that Zoe was about to yell something. "What do we know?" She repeated slowly this time. Just like a drill instructor to a scared soldier. Slow, cold and threatening. To John that had been the most she had shown of being a true leader.

"She has committed crimes against humanity! What else do we need to know?"

"Exactly! What else do we know? She did kidnap 75 children and for what? She basically made them," she pointed at John and Cortana, "and they've saved humanity a couple of times already! Wouldn't that make a good person? Who are we to judge?"

"You can't possibly be on her side," added Scott shaking his head and crossed his arms.

"I'm not, I am inclined to hate the woman for what she did, but I'm also inclined to grant second chances at anyone who asks for them." The room felt silent at that.

"I'm not sure that made sense," murmured Louis at his sister.

"Neither am I," snapped Alex with her drill instructor voice, she grinned stupidly at her own tone and rubbed her neck in a nervous act.

"Stupid" murmured Louis, murdering her grin. Scott and Zoe chuckled without really meaning to, they were still angry.

Bipolar disorder, they all seemed to have it. John was sure they were all crazy.

Somehow, the tension had dropped and they silently relaxed into their usual careless selves. They would discuss this matter latter, when John wasn't there.

"Didn't the doc tell you to rest?" Alex accused Louis with a sisterly glare, to which he responded with a shrug. Alex looked at Scott with a pleading look and he nodded and started dragging Louis to his room.

Zoe and Alex shared a look and then turned to John. They could and maybe should stay with him, but they sincerely didn't know what to do next. They decided to give him a chance to decide if he wanted to be alone or not. John turned to the ring and laid his hands flat over the mat. He was avoiding any form of contact with them. Alex and Zoe shared a look and decided to leave him alone.

"We are heading to the mess hall," Alex pointed at the door inviting him to join them just in case.

He nodded and turned away which made them leave. John waited until they were gone and then a moment more to speak with Cortana.

"Cortana why did you want me to fight Louis?" John walked towards her avatar wondering if she had anything to say.

"To prove you are the best there is Chief." Cortana's voice was deadpan and cold. She was so passionate about proving her hypothesis, she looked as scary as Dr. Halsey did when she was angry.

"Why?" He needed to know. He also needed to clear his mind, which is why he had stayed in the gym.

"They think they have replaced you. They think they don't need you anymore. They are so wrong," She flashed red. "They tried to build another batch of Spartans, the S-III. They failed so miserably, the augmentations were so cheap and not as advanced as yours. Some were safer, the death rate was lower I'll give them that. But did you see what happened to the Alpha Company? All of them dead in a single skirmish, they were cannon fodder. The Beta Company suffered just like them and you met two of them. Tom and Lucy, do you remember how different they were from you. Do you remember how Lucy became mute from shock after seeing her whole company die before her? I saw the confidential files John! I saw all of them! Even the psych evaluations!" she glared at him and set her hands in tight fists, "and now this 'fours' are a mix between your augmentations and those that threes had. It's so obvious. They are cheaper than you, they are so more emotionally stable. Have you watched them closely? They think they are so superior. They want to replace you and you don't care!"

"Cortana you are rambling."

"But they have! Chief there are at least 300 new Spartans with similar physical qualities to match your own. Yes, they are smaller than you by a head; but size isn't all that matters. They even have better armor and have been given far more respect that you ever were given."

"Cortana," he said in a deadly tone. Cortana looked at him and then at the red coding on her hands. Her avatar took a deep breath and the red numbers slowly retreated. Not fast enough for her liking.

"You probably want to know what happened to you over there," she pointed at the ring. John nodded, not really wanting to know but intel was always accepted. "Alex was right, it was an anxiety attack; I read your vital signs. It's pretty common among soldiers so there's nothing to worry about."

"I lost control, I can't lose control like that again." And he wouldn't, or that's what he thought as he removed the bandages from his knees and ankles.

"Well you could always meditate," Cortana joked and John smiled slightly.

 _Meditate my ass._

"I don't understand how she stopped the... anxiety attack." _Damn John, just get over it._

"She applied pressure to relax your sympathetic system, it decreased your metabolic rate until your body was completely relaxed and wasn't able to fight back. That's why you felt weaker as you tried to force her to remove her arms." Cortana looked at him sadly and sighed. "She only half knew what she was doing Chief." Cortana smiled a bit as she realized she couldn't help but worry about both Spartans.

"I could have killed her," John whispered silently, like he was thinking out loud. He wouldn't be able to withstand killing another fellow soldier in incident with those ODSTs should never be repeated.

"Unlikely," she rebutted, "she is a Spartan and she was able to take you down once before." He sighed, he having said those words about her. Yes, he had taken him down once but what about the times he knocked her down. "Her augmentations did include bone reinforcement, that's why Louis was so surprised to have a broken bone." He shook his head as he moved towards a punching bag. "We arrive at Earth tomorrow Chief."

"It's been far too long since I've been there." He picked up his usual stance and sent a powerful punch to test the chains of the punching bag.

"Last time it wasn't a nice reason to be there," she said, remembering the infected High Charity on Africa and how broken her mind had been.

"Yet it is similar," replied John turning his back completely from Cortana. Cortana stared at the coding of her feet in shame and disappeared to check on the ship's systems.


	12. Chapter 12

Normally, Alex tried to avoid tense situations. Whenever possible, she either ignored or dealt with arguments as quickly as possible. She managed this by often by pulling rank or using the 'I'm a huge Spartan' card. Failing that, a dismissive comment or two followed by a smooth advance to the rear always did the trick. Of course, she wouldn't be insubordinate to a higher ranking officer (yeah sure).

Alex simply didn't like fighting, except when it came to Commander Palmer. That woman simply pissed her off. Guess who always follows Palmer around with a rocket or an energy sword on war games?

Ugh, she hadn't even seen the woman in a month and her hands itched for a "friendly" round of war games training. She would probably get her wish granted if the higher ranks did assign her team back to the Infinity as supposed. The Spartan month was meant to be held pretty soon anyway.

Focus Alex... or rather don't focus. Chill and clear your mind. Like a ninja in a dojo. Like a monk on a temple. Like a—

"Dude stop!" Zoe slapped Alex's hand that was rubbing the large scar on her left hand rather obsessively. Alex stopped with the nervous movement and tried to breathe deeply.

She always rubbed her scar or bit her lip when the anxiety was boiling inside her and threatening to give her a heart attack. Her drill instructor had picked up on her because of it and had loved to place her under stressful situation just to make her bite her lip or rub her scar. Sometimes it plainly looked like sexual harassment because it was the easiest way to make her anxious. Her instructor loved screaming at her with his face close enough to make her hit his nose with her forehead. She had stopped showing her anxiety in front of higher ranks but she couldn't get rid of her nervous movements.

"Was I wrong?" Alex asked out of the blue.

"About what?" Zoe asked easily, only half-paying attention. She'd long since learned that Alex tended to ask random, broad, and impossibly vague questions when she was deep in thought. Usually nothing came of it; Alex would just mumble something and move on when asked for clarification.

"I... I don't know," Alex saw Zoe tilt her head in confusion. "The whole incident... I mean I could be dead right now and I'm probably going to get us killed if things keep escalating like they have. He told me that he could have killed me!"

"You are crazy," interrupted Zoe "you have good instincts and that's why you didn't get yourself killed in there." Alex nodded in appreciation at the comment; Zoe wasn't the type of person to give compliments lightly. "Oh and by the way, what did you do with him to make him calm down?"

"I just applied pressure to his sympathetic system," she responded vaguely.

"That's a thing?"

"What do you mean by 'that's a thing' of course it's a thing! It slows the metabolic rate relaxing his—" she was quickly interrupted by Zoe.

"I'm just hearing science, science, science, science." Alex grunted in exasperation.

"Shut up Zoe," and with that Alex continued spacing out.

"Do you hate her?"

"Her? Her who?" Zoe gave her a look. "Her as in the Doctor?" Alex saw Zoe nod on her peripheral vision, "The woman is a bitch! Who the hell kidnaps children for experiments?"

She is the reason why he is broken. Wait... broken? He was the hero of humanity, the person who could probably destroy a frigate with his pinkie. Alex must be crazy to think that... wasn't she?

Alex closed her eyelids as hard as she could and placed her forehead on the cool metallic surface of the table. She was tired and suddenly felt the need to go to her room and die. Which she might do later if she feels like getting up.

"Zoe do me a favor and drag me to my room so I can die there," said Alex, her voice muffled by the table and the hair on her face. Zoe simply chuckled and stood up leaving Alex alone. Alex groaned and sat up, she looked like she had a hangover and with that mood she stood up and dragged herself to her bedroom.

* * *

It was one thing to have Alex up and ready at 0400 in full Spartan armor in the docking bay, but to make her skip breakfast? A Spartan needs to eat twice as much as the average soldier and sometimes even more! It doesn't matter what they did to her organs and blood to make her system process proteins and shit more efficiently. She felt like she could probably eat a horse right now.

She had arrived early as expected from her as the team leader of Fireteam Raven, only to find the Chief already there in his suit; standing like a statue in the place they were supposed to meet with Captain Delgado. Alex yawned and groaned after realizing that she was both hungry and tired, not a good combination. The only thing left for her was to be on her period and she would be in full murder mode.

The Chief saw Alex entering the docking bay in her gray Venator suit. He had heard her gloating about her armor twice and he admitted that it did look menacing, yet it had the elegance and grace of a female warrior. He considered his own armor to provide a better defense than hers at the price of the agility that her armor portrayed.

Having finished his examination, he returned his attention to watching the 372 crew members of the docking bay for any suspicious behavior. He had counted each crew member himself. He kept a closer eye for those who came in range of his motion sensors. He kept his body facing the crew with his back to a metallic crate that he could use for cover if needed. He had a gun concealed in the compartment of his right leg and four knives in other compartments, two in his back, one in his chest and the other in his left thigh.

Alex, being the socially awkward human she was, raised her arm too quickly to wave at him and almost slapped a man running with some files in his embrace. The private didn't see Alex or her hand, but the Spartan reflexes saved his life by retracting her arm before she could hit him in full Spartan armor. She grimaced at the thought of almost killing someone by accident. The Chief only turned his head slightly towards Alex who didn't attempt to wave again as she was intimidated by the cold stare of his golden visor.

It felt uncomfortable and surreal to be at the other side of the helmet, especially since she wasn't wearing her own helmet that was safely tucked under her arm. She didn't take her eyes from his golden visor. If she had, she would have seen the pale faces of the crewmembers that saw the incident.

So, she just nodded at him once she was near and considered donning her helmet to be able to blush and be able to do whatever facial expression she wanted, but she currently had her hair down and she needed both hands to fix her hair. She sighed and resigned herself to focus on not making facial expressions and wait for the others.

The Chief sprung to attention and she made a face. Why was he... oh. She suddenly remembered that the Master Chief was a non-com and she was an officer. She saluted at him and moved to stand next to him. It was quite a curious thing, the new Spartan branch had forgotten the meaning of rank. There were only positions for the Spartans. You could be the Commander like Palmer, a team leader or just a Spartan; anything higher would be Admiral.

The Chief didn't say much, normally she wouldn't have a problem with silence, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking and that bothered her. The man showed no body language and she couldn't read his face either for obvious reasons. She shifted her stance and sighed silently to make herself look like she was just bored, not tense. Well she did look kinda bored to the common eye. She started to bite her lower lip as she fumbled with an imaginary spot on her gray helmet.

The Chief was not moving even a bit, not even a finger twitched or a shift in his perfect stance. He could be replaying her incident with the little guy or judging her by whatever she was doing wrong.

Chill Alex breath, you only have to endure this until someone else comes.

She did try to look casual, but she was anxious. Her eyes moved rapidly as she scanned the crowd for anything, too bad her eyes turned to the Chief every now and then to see if he moved or something. She could only see the shift of his chest plate as he took deep breaths, she focused on his breathing for a moment and then returned to looking at the crowd that turned to look at them every now and then.

She thanked the gods when Louis came into view after five long and tedious minutes of uncomfortable silence. Alex waved with an expression of pain that expressed how grateful she was for his appearance. John shifted his stance to openly look at her and Alex was conscious of his shift.

Louis knew her expression well, it practically screamed social anxiety to him. They learned to read each other's expressions since they were children because they spent much of their time together. They could read each other so well that people were freaked out by it. The perks of having a twin.

Louis gave her a small sympathetic smile as he was getting closer to the couple feeling the Chief's eyes on him. When he was close enough he stretched his arm that was not holding his helmet to give a strong half-hug to his sister. He pretended not to feel the golden visor looking in his general direction silently.

"Chief," he nodded in acknowledgement. The Chief nodded back in response.

The Chief was studying her interactions with her brother. She had a look of relief as she saw him entering the docking bay, which made him wonder if his presence bothered her. It wouldn't be the first or the last time he would make someone uncomfortable with simply being near them.

Their interactions were completely unnecessary in his point of view. Not to mention that Louis was supposed to salute since his sister is his commanding officer. Then again, "sister" was the key word, though he didn't quite understand the concept. Intellectually, John knew what siblings were, but it was always something distant, something non-Spartans had. Something that only came up when he needed to determine how much of a security risk a person was. He didn't know the implications of actually having a sibling but he felt like his fellow Spartans II had taken a similar role of that of an actual siblings in the Spartan program was novel and he couldn't help but be a bit curious.

Most people stared at them in hopes of understanding how this two grew up together to become Spartans. Some scientists even stalked their family tree for a while until they gave up seeing that it was composed of totally normal people. Normal being an understatement... you should see the Christmas dinners.

Alex grunted and struggled against Louis chest. Her face had almost hit his chest plate when he hugged her and she was annoyed.

"Louis stop!" Alex gave him a firm push when she managed to place her free hand on his chest. He laughed and backed off, Alex tried to brush her hair with her gloved hand.

Louis smiled at her, completely aware of what he had done. He brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face gently because of the rough texture of his gloves and moved to stand next to her.

Alex huffed in annoyance and got closer to John's body attempting to get far from Louis. She crossed her arms over chest carefully as to not touch the visor of her helmet. She never liked the possibility of her visor getting dirty or scratched and she was very protective of it.

A group of women led by a blond with too much makeup started to casually approach the group. Actually, every single one of them had too much makeup, even the shy redhead behind them. Alex stared at them with curiosity and a slight disgust. She never wore makeup and it was mainly because she didn't know how to apply it.

"Hey Louis," purred the blond seductively. The others followed suit and either waved or winked at him.

They left as soon as they came, and Alex slowly turned to Louis with an eyebrow raised.

"What?" He grinned awkwardly, "What can I do? It's the Sandoval charm." Alex shook her head trying to hide a grin. John wondered for a second who or what Sandoval was until he deduced by Alex's reaction that it was their family name.

Louis grinned and looked at Alex with a knowing look that made her giggle and then laugh with him. They ignored the Chief staring at them as he studied their facial expressions. He noticed that they both shared a lone dimple on one of their cheeks. He accepted that he was curious of their antics, lately he was starting to feel more curious towards social interactions that he never had the chance to experience. He reminded himself of how pointless they were and continued to scan the perimeter.

Scott and Zoe appeared shortly after, the later saluting briskly at Alex who returned the salute in the same manner. Scott did his salute lazily and gained an elbow to his ribs from Zoe who marched to a spot next to Louis. She completely ignored the Chief's presence as she stood in parade rest next to Louis.

Scott rolled his eyes at her actions, shook hands with Louis and attempted to wrap an arm around Alex who slapped his arm away with a small quirk on the corner of her lips. Scott nodded towards the chief and started contemplating taking the spot between him and Alex. He felt the stare of the golden visor and decided against it.

It was all going smoothly until they were all standing there and waiting... in an eerie silence. The workers tried to act like nothing was going on, but failed miserably as some stared at the five Spartans with curiosity every now and then.

The Spartans sprung to attention in perfect sync as Captain Delgado made his appearance. The captain saluted and swore he saw a crewmember taking a picture of the moment.

"At ease Spartans," they stood in parade rest "I'm sorry for having you brought here instead of the bridge but we had some technical problems and it's a mess up there." He shook his head in exasperation "Well then... follow me to a more private area please."

The captain had an air of elegance and command as he led the Spartans through the deck. There were several pelicans waiting to be deployed and some engineers doing routine check-ups on their engines as well as several containers being pulled by warthogs and trucks built for the bigger containers. The whole deck was alive with working crew and the noise that was to be expected.

Eventually, the captain led them to a frail looking set of stairs going to catwalk above. This was mainly used to provide easy access the top of pelicans or other large vehicles, but it also branched off into a few side rooms and compartments; one of which was apparently their destination. Alex, who was right behind the captain, hesitated on stepping on the stairs because of the weight of the armor

"Don't worry, the stairs are made of the same shit the hull is made of." The captain said offhandedly as he began walking up the stairs. Alex still hesitated as she gently set a foot on the stairs. She took several steps and then nodded for Scott to follow her. He stepped on it and heard a creak.

"Did you hear that?" Asked Louis.

"Yeah we better go up one at a time." Scott turned to the others who nodded in agreement. They didn't see Alex's pale face when she heard the creak of the stairs.

Captain Delgado led them into a meeting room with enough space for the five Spartans to stand comfortably.

"All right here we are. Your orders for today are to wait in the D-B1 area of this docking bay and hop on the Pelican waiting for all of you. This Pelican will drop you off at Sidney before everyone else where the press will be waiting for the Chief. Your stuff will be delivered to the base you'll be deployed in on Australia."

He began with the don't-be-idiots-in-front-of-the-press-speech directed to Fireteam Raven. Alex was really trying to listen to what he was saying, but she had heard the same speech far too many times since entering the academy. Despite her best efforts, her mind wandered back to the incident in the docking bay where she'd nearly killed that private before moving on to the curiosity beside her. Subconsciously her eyes turned to the Chief before realizing her mistake and quickly yanking them back to focus on the captain. Fortunately he didn't seem to have noticed her—

"Don't you agree with me Lieutenant Sandoval?"

"What- Sir, yes sir!" Alex blushed when the captain smiled knowingly and hid a chuckle with fake coughing.

"Since the LT is not in this room I certainly wish you all the luck you'll need Chief." The captain smiled and offered his hand to the Chief and winked at Alex. She just stood still and blushed. "Dismissed."

They saluted perfectly and waited for the captain to salute and leave the room. Alex was still blushing when he left and Scott slapped her in the shoulder with a grin.

"Food?" Asked Scott to which the others nodded and headed towards the exit of the docking bay. The Chief didn't move.

"Chief you coming?" Alex saw him hesitate and nod, she continued walking normally giving him a casual glance to check if he was still there. She soon found herself alone at the back of the group with John who was eerily quiet. Given how she could easily re-join the group, it wasn't nearly as unnerving as it was earlier.

"Why are you always asking me to 'tag along'?" He asked after a while.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at him expecting him to explain himself further. She realized he wasn't going to do so. "Do you have other friends in this ship who you want to spend your precious time with?" He stayed silent, "exactly."

"Is this some kind of pity then?" he spat the word pity with utter disgust and anger.

Alex was taken aback, she would normally laugh, but his tone was dead serious. Did he really think that? His body was stiff as always and his pace robotic and monotone as always. Alex looked at his golden visor for the answers his body didn't have only to find that his visor pointed straight ahead.

"Pity?" She repeated confused with an eyebrow raised "Can't I just want your company?"

"I'm not much company," he said with his usual monotone voice.

"Define company," he didn't respond and just turned his head in her general direction. Alex sighed in exasperation, "look I wouldn't be dragging you along with us if I didn't want to, but if you don't want to 'tag along' then fine just leave." And with that she walked faster leaving the Chief behind in the hall. Alex tapped Scott in the arm and he automatically slithered his arm around her shoulders laughing at something Louis had said.

The Chief continued walking in a slower pace, not really understanding what just happened. He was surprised with her outburst and didn't quite understand why she had been angry at him. Was she even angry at him? Well it looks like she believes that he doesn't want to spend time with them. No one had been angry with him not accompanying someone somewhere. Cortana would've been able to explain the situation to him

He didn't consider following them, he had already eaten something around 0300 (he couldn't sleep) he wouldn't need food for a while. He kept walking forward, heading to the gym.

Socially awkward, yes that's what she had called him and maybe that's why he didn't quite understand what she'd be angry about. This type of thing spoke volumes about the differences between Spartans II and Spartans IV. The IVs had lived before the army and knew what humanity was. He didn't know what humanity meant.

* * *

"Alex what the hell was that with the Chief?" Scott had managed to slowly and quietly leave Louis and Zoe alone speaking about a new sniper rifle that needed some testing to do for when they arrived Earth.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Scott." Alex shook her head and bent her neck to look at him. Scott sighed and rolled his green eyes to make her know how stupid she was. "I really don't know Scott."

"The bitching in the hall," he added "or is there something else I don't know about?"

"No," she shook her head "why the hell do you even care?" She snapped at him at which he glared, "about the hall thing I think I'm just stressed and that's why I snapped at him." Alex turned her head to look behind her with a slightly guilty expression. "I should apologize for being a bitch to him."

"Sounds like PMS to me." Scott smiled at her annoyed face and held her tighter against his body. Alex struggled against him.

"Don't do that when we are wearing armor!" She slapped his armored arm and elbowed his side. Scott laughed and kept his arm on her shoulders.

"Sorry darling."

"Don't call me darling."

"Ok darling."

They arrived at the nearest mess hall and found a lonely table on the back they placed their helmets on the table and sat down with their food.

"What's the plan at Earth?" Asked Louis once everyone had settled down.

"Well Zoe was born there, she could take us around," Suggested Scott while eating Alex's discarded food.

"I was born in the Netherlands," nobody knew what that was "that's in Europe, I lived in Europe not Australia."

"That's a different continent right?" Asked Louis.

"Of course it is idiot," snapped Scott with disgust and Alex only smiled.

"Well we can always call a cab and ask the driver for a suggestion," suggested Alex, as Louis and Scott started shoving her and making a tss sound. The marines turned to look at them at the sound of metal hitting metal and the shuffling of the armor pieces.

"Wow! You finally had an idea." Louis pushed her again and then started grinning.

"I can even see smoke coming from your ear." Laughed Scott.

"Shut up." Alex stood up and sat next to Zoe who had been sitting alone next to the helmets.

"I hope we get to stay in armor for the whole thing at HQ," murmured Louis after a while "maybe with the Chief we won't have to dress up."

"The brass doesn't like to see us in full armor," Zoe started looking at her own visor "something about us being freaks with big muscles."

"You mean these muscles?" Louis and Scott both started making poses to show off their arms and the girls start laughing at how ridiculous they were. The marines on the other tables stopped eating to stare freely at the Spartans. The female marines even dropped their stuff and stopped talking.

"Good morning this is Captain Delgado speaking," the captain's voice was heard all through the ship stopping Scott and Louis's poses, "we will be dropping out of slipspace in four hours. Those who will drop down to Earth earlier than the rest are required to be at the docks in three hours." That meant Fireteam Raven, the Chief and those who would be going to smile at the cameras with them.

"That means three and a half," murmured a marine in the mess hall, possibly one of the marines forced to march.

The captain gave other instructions and called someone to the bridge before the "over and out" was heard.

Raven team stayed in the mess hall for a while until they decided to waste their time in the gym they had claimed as theirs since they were deployed.

The door opened to reveal the chief doing a single-handed handstand up in the ring with an arm on his back. The gravity was at its maximum and Cortana stood in the holo-pad looking out for the Chief with a worried expression.

"Fifteen minutes," said Cortana startling the Raven team and causing the Chief to switch arms.

"How long has he been doing that?" Asked Louis starring at the perfect handstand.

"An hour and fifteen minutes."

"Shit that's too much!" Exclaimed Louis, tilting his head to get a better look. The Chief wasn't paying attention to them and instead chose to focus on his breathing.

Alex gently set down her helmet on a bench and climbed on the ring. She kneeled down in front of the Chief were she could hear his heavy yet steady breathing.

"Hey Chief... how about stopping?" He shook his head "No? Ok then at least I asked you."

Alex stood up and shoved his legs to the side to force him to lose his balance. The Chief grunted and tightened his muscles to keep himself steady. Alex was momentarily impressed with the strength of his legs but shook the thought away and pushed him again, this time using her body weight against him.

The Chief fell with a metallic thud against the mat of the ring. John groaned but didn't move to stand up and instead got into a comfortable position on his back.

"He ok?" Asked Scott from afar, Alex nodded and everyone else went to sit down at the other end of the room.

"Chief?" she asked slightly worried to which she received no response "You okay?" No response. Alex sighed and knelt down to gently push the buttons below the earlobes of the helmet to release it.

She removed it as gently as she could and placed it next to his leg. Alex studied his red face for a moment. The Chief wasn't looking at her, he was just breathing and looking at the ceiling with a numb expression. His lips were relaxed but his eyebrows had a slight frown to them.

"Chief?" No response "John?" He finally looked at her, turning his head to make her know he was looking at her like he was used to always making such exaggerated movements to make people realize he is looking at them when wearing the helmet. Alex made eye contact before sighing and slowly laying down next to him.

"How red am I?" He asked in his deep baritone voice.

"Not too bad," she saw him turning his head to look at her but didn't take her eyes of the grey ceiling "like you normally look after sparing... not unhealthy looking." They just laid there for a while, Alex sat up to look at the others who had suddenly stopped talking. Scott had fallen asleep while Zoe and Louis were now playing chess.

"I wanted a distraction." He murmured.

"From what?" She asked, laying down next to him again.

"Thinking."

"Thinking about...?" No response... silence but not an uncomfortable one, a much needed one. Alex yawned and though of using her arm as pillow before remembering how uncomfortable using her armored arm would be.

"Sleep"

"What?"

"Sleep, you look tired." He turned his head to look at her.

"Why thank you!" She mockingly batted her eyelashes at him.

"I didn't mean to imply that you looked—" he was cut off by Alex sitting up abruptly.  
"I can't sleep with this thing," she tugged at her chest plate "at least not with my helmet off." Rather than stand up she crawled to the side of the ring. It was funny to see a fully armored Spartan crawl so lazily. John couldn't help it but let the corner of his lips curl up into the slightest smile. Alex laid down face first on the mat and tried to reach her helmet.

"Why don't you go down?"

Alex turned her head and stared at John with a look of confusion and fear like he had grown a third arm out of the blue. Was that innuendo? No it couldn't be, he doesn't look like the pervy type of man. Then again what do perverts look like if we don't count the many facial expressions they do in presence of the other sex? Alex didn't realize how long she actually spent on thinking about what pervs looks and instead of figuring it out shook her head and decided to respond him.

"Because that requires standing up." Now that also could have been innuendo. Alex sighed and gave up on the helmet. "I'm sure that this pose would actually be comfortable if this chest plate didn't have boobs."

John shook his head and mimicked her pose, face looking at her. "No it isn't, my neck is killing me."

"Wow, I've never heard you complain about anything."

"He actually complains a lot," Cortana's voice was heard on the holo-pad's speakers "especially about my perfect driving skills."

"Thanks Cortana," mocked the Chief.

"You are welcome Chief."

"I'll add sarcastic to the list of things I hadn't noticed." Alex gave him a half smile and tried to get comfortable.

They stayed there waiting until it was time to go to the Pelican that would take them down to Earth, the ship would stay in orbit for the press conferences and some routine in-orbit checkups. They didn't speak much (more like they didn't say anything of importance) just rested until they had to actually do something.


	13. Chapter 13

HIGHCOM FACILITY BRAVO-6

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

There's something electrifying about military silence, you are able to feel the strength of every soldier saluting. It's empowering and makes you crave for glory. He took a deep breath, straightened up his own stance, and took a step towards the facility. With his head high and followed by Fireteam Raven, his feet touched the Earth for the first time in many years.

Too many years.

He was expecting a sense of spiritual catharsis or melancholy as he did that, but the only he thing he felt were the eyes of the young marines who looked at him as if he was a God. Some tried not to look directly at his visor either in fear or with respect, others smiled warmly at him, and there where the few special ones who instead focused their attention and hatred towards the Spartans following his trail. He turned his head to look at them, to judge their mood based on their body language, he was met with pride in all of them. John made a mental note to ask their leader about the glares they received. He didn't know much about this new Spartans and felt a genuine curiosity about them.

Earth had never brought a sense of warmth to his chest. The only place that had taken hold of his heart had been Reach, and everything he held dear was glassed many years. He wondered for a second if anyone had begun terraforming it. He dismissed the idea quickly, it wasn't important.

The Pelican had landed on Australia, on a landing pad out in the open right next to an UNSC military base, one he had visited a few years back to have a meeting with HIGHCOM before he met Cortana. The building was roughly conical in structure and on the outside it was surrounded in security gates and other defenses, thus the nickname of "the Hive".

"Isn't it lovely out here?" Cortana brought a weather widget to the Chief's visor. "You must take that suit off and enjoy the sun while you are here John, I heard there are some great surfing spots not too far from here."

"Cortana."

"I bet Raven team would love to visit north Sydney, there are some nice sandy beaches and the water is warm and cleat."

"Cortana." John repeated her name, the weather widget was too bright. He didn't care if there was a perfect 21 c of temperature or if it was going to rain on Sunday.

"Right," there was a slight glitch in the widget before Cortana removed the widget completely. "Don't bother me when I'm with my Spartan friends." Her voice was acquiring an angry glitchy tone, like there where 2 Cortanas speaking. "Speaking of which, I thing that whore kinda likes you, maybe she'll ditch the blonde asshole for you. Who knows? Maybe the whole savior of the galaxy thing will appeal to her senses. Did you know that she was a having a relationship with a man of a higher rank? The higher ups found out and demoted both of them. That's why she never had a chance at being the Spartan Commander."

"Cortana stop. What are you even talking about? I have no interest in this type of things." He grunted out in his deep voice, checking his surroundings and possible hiding places out of pure habit.

"Oh come on! Its human instinct to want to know who is single or who's banging who and why." She laughed, no glitch, no double voice or anything. She sounded normal and was teasing him just like she used to.

"Well I'm glad you are suddenly feeling better." He smiled at her, knowing that she would be able to know if he smiled or not. "Although I can see that you've started to utilize a far more colorful language."

"Are you trying to change the subject, Master Chief?" He could almost see her cocking her hip and crossing her arms above her chest.

"Yes, Cortana." He heard her huff in exasperation.

"Don't ever say I never tried doing anything for you."

"Never." He grinned and continued walking until he reached Lord Hood and other HIGHCOM members who were waiting for him near the entrance to the ONI base on a platform surrounded by several marines. There was a glass screen behind them with information on several languages and the UNSC logo as background.

Fireteam Raven formed a line besides him with Alex right next to him. The five Spartans saluted in unison. The camera drones floating around went crazy with the impressive sight of the saluting Spartans. They floated up and down trying to gain the perfect angle for the most dramatic picture, some even fought each other for a specific spot behind the Admiral. His visor darkened automatically to protect him from the flash. Cortana opened the communication link on all the Spartans to say one single thing before closing it.

"Look pretty."

"Welcome home Master Chief. At ease," the Spartans relaxed their stances and so did all the marines behind them. "I know it must have been a long trip for all of you. You'll be glad to hear there's some R&R waiting for you after this meetings on a base in Sydney." He smiled as if he expected the Spartans to laugh with him. Cortana made a small squeal of delight at which John rolled his eyes. Since Lord Hood was clearly waiting for an answer, both Alex and the chief responded professionally.

"Thank you sir." They spoke the exact same words at the same time and with the same tone as if they had actually rehearsed it before. Alex turned her helmet to stare at the Chief and he did the same. They stared at each other for exactly 3.7 seconds filled with an uncomfortable tension and looked back at Hood. The cameras had taken the opportunity to take several pictures of them looking at each other like that.

There was a small speech that was meant as a welcoming gesture but it was mostly meant for the public. The real speech was still to be delivered and everyone knew it.

When all was said and done, Lord Hood coughed trying to hide his amused grin and motioned the Spartans to follow him. He was trying not to laugh because he had spent the whole speech looking at the marines who couldn't stop drooling at the Chief.

The base looked so small on the outside mainly because most of it was built underground. There three elevators not counting the ones that were used to enter "the garage" as it was commonly called by the pilots. Two were used for cargo and could house a Pelican or two tanks and a couple of warthogs at the same time, the other was for people but you could have 30 people according to the max capacity requirements said (that means 60 people or more could ride that elevator if they felt like it).

For a common soldier to actually visit the base meant a great honor or an opportunity to mingle with the HIGHCOM and try to worm their way in. For a Spartan-IV it felt like being placed under the spotlight and get judged freely by the old hags that reminisced of the old days with the S-IIs and how perfect they were at following orders like a Spartan should. When it came to the S-IVs everyone knew better than them. Even some civilians disliked them. Children, bless their hearts, loved the S-IVs.

The lift took them several kilometers underground to the safest place on Earth. A freaking nuke could be detonated on the ground levels of the base and they would probably not feel a thing (they actually would feel it but let's not kill the magic). Several corridors and security checkpoints later, they entered a grayish blue meeting room with UNSC insignia resting at the center in onyx and bronze. There was a seat waiting for Lord Terrence Hood close to the middle of the crescent-shaped table (there wasn't a specific center) that surrounded the imposing UNSC eagle on the floor.

The Spartans automatically formed a line and stood at attention for the UNSC Security Council that was confirmed by the very well-known faces of General Dellert, General Hogan. Major General Nicolas Strauss, Admiral Hood, and Admiral Osman who was frowning at the Spartans in such a way that it made her seem constipated.

The formalities were made to which the Spartans nodded stiffly when they received the "at ease Spartans" from Lord Hood. General Hogan welcomed the chief with a small speech. Osman's frown just deepened at listening to the rich baritone of the fat general. To her it looked like he was trying to kiss the Spartan's ass in his own subtle way. The speech then became a 'thank you' for finding the human popsicle to which Raven team responded with humility (they did basically nothing and they knew it well).

After a while, Osman became exasperated and commanded the Spartans to take off their helmets because keeping it was a sign of disrespect. To the Chief this meant getting separated from Cortana and enduring the long and tedious debridement alone.

Alex was the first to fully remove her helmet because its air locks were faster than those of her teammates. She saw the Chief unwilling to remove his helmet right away, her first instinct was am altruistic need to help him. Alex wasn't really surprised about that. She was known for owning a bleeding heart for basically anything that fit her moral standards, the people in front of her didn't… well except for Lord Hood who was always really nice.

Her first idea of a solution was to touch his arm… but that was weird and touching him was even weirder and she was in front of the HIGHCOM and specially Osman who loved to question every single action that belonged to a Spartan. Her second idea was nodding at him in a smiling slightly, like a "hey nice to see your pale face, you might wanna buy some spray tan."

The second idea looked good enough for her and so she did it. At first she couldn't tell if he actually saw her movement, but he nodded back at her and gingerly removed his helmet. The corner of her lip tried to move upwards to form a cheeky half smile, but it just twitched. She nodded at her own team and they either smiled at her or nodded back. Scott even winked at her. Osman rolled her eyes and sighed.

For Alex, helmets were confining and kept any normal human interaction from happening. Normal people became intimidated by the lack of facial expressions, by their muscled body and their height, and by the power their carried with their armor. It was difficult to have a normal conversation with someone who was scared of you. It also made people nervous because they knew you could look freely at their faces and study every little imperfection and movement on their faces while they could barely see a breathing pattern on the Spartan. She hated helmets, but they were useful in battle and that was enough.

"Now we can finally speak to your faces." Osman's lips formed a smile but her eyes continued to exude dominance and disapproval. Alex hated her face and made direct eye contact with a similar smile. It was a bit too risky, but worth it. Osman's smile widened like she was accepting the challenge. Let's see who can smile the most like a hypocrite.

The debriefing went on and on for a while with questions aimed at the Chief about what happened before the Forward unto Dawn was cut in half and he became a human popsicle guarded by an AI. They told him about what happened to the Arbiter, how he had established good political relationships with the UNSC. They even told him how he attended a ceremony that was meant to function as a goodbye to the fallen (him) and how he returned to Sanghelios to fight a civil war. Which was a problem that the UNSC had opted not to actively participate in. He frowned when he heard that last part.

"Something the matter, son?" General Strauss squinted and tilted his head, silently challenging the Chief to judge his decision.

"It is not my place to comment, sir." John bowed slightly and saw how Lord Hood smiled at his answer.

They started quizzing Fireteam Raven on how they found the Forward Unto Down in the middle of nowhere. They explained that the Hyperion was scouting the region for scrap metal as one of their assigned mission intended.

The frigate was used to neutralize hostile covenant remnants to silently aid the Sword of Sanghelios in the civil war. It was also used to "negotiate" terms with insurrectionist colonies/bases and neutralize them if necessary (which it usually was). There had been a shortage in metal after the Human-Covenant war because of the several ships lost and never retrieved. The main hangar of the Hyperion was built to be able to carry and rebuild several of this ships, and so it was tasked with finding random ships to fix them or to scavenge them for parts. The Hyperion was a war ship and a moving junkyard.

"What about Cortana?" General Hogan asked in a barely interested tone, he was looking down at something on a data pad, its brightness illuminated his double chin in an almost comical way. Of course no one commented on it.

"What about her sir?" The Chief's blue eyes set directly on Hogan's with a neutral stare.

"Has she suffered any significant damage at all?" General Strauss used his stylus pen to point at his helmet while spoke "I'd like for her to be checked out by the tech team tomorrow morning."

"Yes, I do believe she has suffered some minor damage."

"How minor?" General Strauss asked with a slightly worried frown.

"I-"

"General Strauss, I fail to see the reason to press this point." Spoke Lord Hood raising a rand for emphasis towards the Chief's general direction.

"Cortana is one of the UNSC's most valuable assets." General Strauss glared at Admiral Hood "That she was drifting in space UNPROTECTED for four years-"

"She was not unprotected." John quickly interrupted General Strauss. It was true, Cortana had the capability of waking him up in case of emergency.

"Oh come on Strauss, the boy is not from the IT department." General Dellert raised his eyebrows at Strauss who chuckled in response, there seemed to be a silent conversation going between them that looked far too suspicious.

They asked more questions about his "adventures" (or so had General Hogan called them) until he was given instructions to spend 7 days on Earth along with Fireteam Raven to rest. They started asking about Fireteam Raven's original mission of scouting the outer colonies for insurgent activity and about how they dealt with them. It was all quite detailed in the report but still they had to recount everything they did.

The mission was quite straightforward: identify and eliminate if they didn't surrender. It was bloody, it was quick for some but others had to be taken down one by one during skirmishes. The UNSC Hyperion was a harbinger of death and so was Fireteam Raven. Alex and her team had wished that the insurgents had given up instead of choosing death. Sometimes they bombed areas full of civilians because the base was filled up with artillery and family members. Children happened to be among the dead. Alex hated it, but she wasn't the one who gave the order. Captain Delgado had been unwilling too, but the orders where quite clear and he had tried to question HIGHCOM whenever civilians were involved.

Fireteam Raven had preferred a direct approach, they would send a message that was basically a "surrender or feel my wrath" kind of message. Many times the insurgents had given up when they heard about Spartans coming for their asses, they would be taken into custody and taken somewhere else for further questioning and proper judgement. When they refused to surrender, Fireteam Raven was sent down to capture the leaders of the camp and then blow it up.

They had also discussed the relationship between the insurrectionists on Keranos and the Covenant Remnant.

"We should take this offline, humanity has been through too much. If we know about the delicate relations with the covenant and more specifically the Sangheili, there's no reason to make this known for the public. It may cause too much uncertainty amongst the civilians on the outer colonies that may feel desperate enough to work with the covenant. But the covenant's appearance on Keranos… we'll play it off as a covenant attack. An attack that the UNSC fended off via the perfectly timed return of her greatest hero!" General Hogan smiled at his own plan and looked at the other members of HIGHCOM for their opinions. They mostly agreed, some had their doubts about playing it off as an actual attack when the only ones to wreak havoc in Keranos was the UNSC against the insurrectionist.

"Fireteam Raven," Osman read something on her data pad and addressed the leader of Raven team. "You are to be deployed on the UNSC infinity assigned under Commander Palmer."

Alex felt the urge to roll her eyes or groan loudly but instead she nodded with every bit of professionalism in her body. Osman pointed out that every single S-IV Fireteam was to report to the UNSC Infinity for the yearly Spartan trials. It was like a month of training and competing to see which team was the best. The first place was always between Crimson or Majestic team with Raven team always in the third position. It was like a huge family gathering in July, like spending Christmas with all the family members you barely know and those you do know. The only reason her team even participated in a competitive way was because the teams at the bottom were disbanded in punishment and so that the newly made teams became more efficient. Palmer and some other scientist were in charge of building this teams.

The meeting ended, with no final decision of what was going to happen to the chief after his small vacations. He requested a meeting with lord hood after he finished the so called "vacations".

He was informed that if he wished to stay in a base for the 7 days then he would be sent to the Holden Caulfield base. It's not like he had anywhere else to go. Raven team was planning to use that base like a hotel which was surprisingly permitted and accepted. Hotels and commodities on earth were not cheap at all, thus the reason why earth didn't suffer from overpopulation.

John didn't feel like donning his helmet, he felt exhausted. Cortana would just start talking and talking until he felt even more tired. Fireteam Raven also looked exhausted, they were silent and held their helmets differently. He had seen Alex cradle her helmet in the Hyperion and also at the Pelican, she cradled it like a baby. Now she was holding it precariously with one hand and swinging it slightly. He felt the sudden urge to place his hand on her shoulder to make her feel better. He had done that to several marines before. He liked to reassure marines, to make it known that he was there and that he was strong enough to help them.

He lifted his hand and was about to touch her when a deep baritone called his attention.

"Master Chief, do you have a moment?" Lord Hood raised his hand to stop John from walking away with Fireteam Raven. They stopped to salute and Lord Hood, who later dismissed them swiftly. When they were out of ear shot he motioned the Chief to follow him to his personal office.

"Admiral Hood, sir. Of course." John turned around and waited patiently for Hood to speak.

"My apologies for the… lack of professionalism in the room back there. A lot of heads are spinning right now, and, well…" Hood took a step towards the Chief and rubbed his neck with a hand. "Very few of our top brass seem to possess the skill of keeping their mouths shut until their brains have figured out what to say."

"Not my place to comment sir." John bowed slightly which made Lord Hood smile.

"Heh… I wish it were, John. I wish it were." He took a few steps to lead the Chief through several doors. "You're home now. We could finally make an officer of you." He smiled, "you'd have Admiral without much of an argument from anyone." Lord Hood smiled at him conveying sincerity.

"No offense sir, but 'the admiral' doesn't have quite the same ring to it." John commented and saw Hood stop in his tracks to look at his face.

"Was that a joke son?" Lord Hood turned to look at the Chief with an amused smile on his face. "Didn't think you had it in you." John shrugged. Lord Hood raised his eyebrows at such casual and natural shrug. He also took in John's slightly relaxed expression.

John-117 actually shrugged.

"I've been told I'm getting funnier." John answered and his lip gave a little spasm in a poor attempt to smile. Lord Hood laughed full heartedly which prompted John's lip to form a small smile.

Lord Hood couldn't believe how changed the Chief was.

"Well son, I actually called you here because I wanted to request your assistance in a matter." John nodded and motioned him to continue. "I bet you noticed that I didn't assigned you to a ship or a base. That's because I wanted to ask you first if you would like to asses our new Spartans."

"Sir?" John was confused and frowned at the Admiral.

"I know you have already met Fireteam Raven, they are not the best behaved team of the batch." He chuckled at his own joke. "They can sometimes behave like college kids but I assure you that they are quite capable."

"Yes, I was able to see them in action, sir."

"I read that on one of the reports. What are your thoughts on them?"

"Well sir, their working relationship is impressive... reminded me of my Spartans two." Hood raised his eyebrows in surprise. "They were able to communicate better than the vast majority of soldiers. At first I thought they were acted unsubstantiated towards their leader, Alex. I didn't except them to follow her leadership so flawlessly during the mission. I didn't get to see them in battle but I did train with the siblings, Cortana has analyzed our sparring sessions."

"Good, I'll have to ask her about it." John nodded. "Which reminds me about another subject. Cortana," a small pause "how is she?"

"She," John hesitated and Lord Hood saw it. "She is not doing well sir. Cortana is going through the early stages of rampancy." Or so he hoped.

Lord Terrence Hood was silent. He had come to feel attached to the AI after her rescue from the flood. He knew how attached John was. He knew how powerful and how difficult it had been to create Cortana, they had use the cloned brain of a genius after all. There was only one AI as powerful as her, and she had been lost in Reach.

"Hmm"

Ok that wasn't an answer, actually it was barely a noise. Did it mean that he was deciding what to do? He was probably thinking about the usual AI protocol. John would have paled if he wasn't already pale. He felt a surge of anxiety in his chest and fought to keep it controlled.

"What do you want to do, son?"

"Sir it's not my position to-"

"Like hell it is! She is your responsibility and always has been. What do you want to do, son?"

"I'd like to find Dr. Halsey."

"She is currently being held imprisoned as a war criminal son."

"I know that sir."

"She was arrested for kidnapping Kelly and for luring Fred, Linda, and Will to Onyx under false pretenses. She also stole UNSC property and is wanted for some war crimes by ONI." Lord Hood's face was cold and calculating.

"I understand, sir. Doctor Katherine Halsey is still the only chance I have at fixing Cortana. If it's even possible-" he didn't get a chance to finish because he was interrupted.

"Do you truly believe that?" Lord Hood raised an eyebrow.

"Yes sir. If she isn't capable of fixing her then at least she'll be capable of saving Cortana's data better than any of ONI's technicians."

"Very well. You'll have a chance at meeting with her on the UNSC Infinity."

"What exactly will I be doing on board the Infinity if I may ask, sir?" Lord Hood had been pretty vague.

"It's the Spartan month, although the civilians prefer to call it Spartan tournament." John's brow furrowed and tilted his head slightly. "I know, it wasn't my idea. General Hogan and General Dellert had this idea to sell this to the public. Something about displaying the strength and capacity of the new Spartans during war zone simulations and other games." John raised an eyebrow. "Politics," John nodded. "Serves to raise morality and increase the number of new recruits for the army. We even made toys, there's one that looks just like you."

"What? Why would anyone want a toy shaped like me?" John was taken aback, truly surprised.

"You are the hero of humanity, son. Children want to be like you."

'They shouldn't,' though John sadly.

"Anyway, this whole Spartan advertising has made some of them act worse than ODSTs. There are rankings, we rank them individually and in teams. I want you to help with training, preparing the war simulations and ranking them. We have Spartans 3s as trainers, so you won't be alone amongst the techs. I'll send more information to you later when you arrive at Infinity. Right now I want you to relax. Knowing the S-IVs they will be going to the beach or some clubs here in Sydney, you should go with them."

The Chief disliked the idea immediately. He was planning to simply go to the gym and run around the base in between meals to keep him busy.

"You'll be sent to the Holden Caulfield base for your R&R along with them. Have fun."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** I'm pretty sure that thngs like J.R.R. Tolkien's books will still exist and be loved by people in the future. Take Sherlock Holmes for example: the thing came out almost 200 years ago!

* * *

HOLDEN CAULFIELD BASE

SYDNEY, AUTRALIA.

Have fun.

Yeah, he was peachy. The sun was too bright, his skin felt hot under the glare of the sun. He had found some shades for his eyes and Alex had tossed him some sun block before they went outside of the base. He had frowned at the offending yellow spray bottle. Alex had glared at his mistrust. He had sprayed down his arms and neck and she nodded in approval. She was so ever changing, first she was all gentle in a 'here let me help you' sort of way and next thing he knew she was glaring at him with a 'you little shit' look. It was amusing and unexpected.

He was in a warthog with a marine that couldn't help but look at John and the Spartans every now and then. Scott had barked at him to look at the road when the poor man was trying to look at him. Scott was standing behind a turret, scanning the road and silently making sure that the other warthog was following them.

Louis was driving the other warthog, fireteam raven had asked permission to use that warthog to move around. Which meant it had no turret and had a second row of seats.

The marine lead the small convoy to the base, he took a highway and a four hours later they found themselves in a road cutting through the woods and leading them to the military base. John could smell the faint salty aroma of the sea. He guessed that he could probably hike through the woods until he reached the beach.

The base was small, looked like a training facility. It was mostly deserted, save for a couple of guards and officers sitting outside just chatting with each other. It was the middle of July and the place looked like a ghost town. The marine driving had told Scott and John that this base was mostly a cheap hotel for officers on leave that had nowhere to go. The idea was depressive.

They were welcomed by some staff and later lead to their assigned rooms. They were set up in rooms with two small beds and a small computer. The beds were too small for Spartans and they all sighed in defeat. There was a small common room with a small TV, some couched and a round metallic table with metallic chairs. He saw Raven team claim the chairs and start discussing what they would do tomorrow. Alex had suggested hiking to the beach and Scott and Louis had agreed to search for supplies in the city.

"Bring some Grey Goose." Alex yelled at them before they were out of the room.

"Don't forget the beer, and stuff to make sandwiches!" Zoe yelled at them.

"I'm not your slave! If your ass wants shit so badly then come with!" Louis's tone was angry but he was definitely trying not to laugh.

"Aww come on Daysi! Pretty please!" Alex whined and pouted, she looked incredibly comfortable in her metallic chair with her feet propped on the table. Louis frowned at the nickname. "I'll buy some workout clothes for you!"

"Yeah she'll buy you stuff." Zoe nodded as if she was confirming a really serious transaction.

"I'll think about it." Louis winked at them and Scott groaned. Alex pouted, which made Scott come over and kiss her forehead. It was a really intimate gesture until she slapped his chest. Scott chuckled and moved over to kiss Zoe in the same manner.

John was amused at how lazy the two of them looked. He was a bit confused about one or two things, especially that kiss, but he didn't show it. He silently went to his assigned quarters and placed Cortana's chip on the computer. She gave a small sigh of relief but didn't say much. John sat on his bed. He tested his bed several times, thinking that it was far too soft to be comfortable. He was used to sleeping on the floor like a soldier and not on beds like a civilian. He sighed in discomfort and changed his clothes to hike in the woods.

Alex was laying down in the couch, her feet and head propped up in the arm rests. She was doing something on the TV and visibly perked up when she saw him.

"Hey do you want to see a movie?" She saw John stop in his tracks, he was wearing jogging pants and a UNSC shirt like he always did.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Alex blinked at him and shifted so that she would be able to look at him without breaking her neck.

"Why would I want to see a movie?"

"Uhh," she hesitated "because movies are works of arts meant to entertain the human race, no matter who they are?" She sat up on the couch, her legs under her, she wasn't wearing any shoes. "I mean, it's not like you've never seen a movie!" She meant it as a joke, but the Chief's face quickly killed her mood.

"Of course I've seen movies." His tone was monotone and cold, like he couldn't understand what the big deal was. "Although, I cannot see why you could call them works of art."

"When was the last time you saw a movie?"

"Uhh," he hesitated and avoided the curious frown Alex was giving him, only to see Zoe peeking at him from behind her book on the metallic chairs. "I don't know, I was young." The last time he saw a movie was in a classroom with his Spartans. Probably a historic documental Deja wanted them to see. Alex seemed to quickly understand the situation and took a moment to fully analyze it.

"Was it a movie or a documental?"

"What's the difference?" He was obviously confused and apparently it was the wrong thing to say because Alex appeared to lose her shit.

Alex gasped and stood up, "there, that does it" she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the couch.

"Does what?"

"You sir, are going to sit here and watch movies with me." She pushed him and made him sit on the couch.

"Is it completely necessary?"

"Yes."

"I believe we have different concepts on the word 'necessary'"

"Oh come on! How bad could it be?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

Alex sighed, "You are such a pessimist. What genre do you like?"

"Movies have genders?"

"Genre, not gender…" Alex glared at him but she was actually amused. "Like… for example would you like to see a story about someone fighting with someone else to achieve a certain goal?"

"Fighting?"

"Yeah, like with guns and cars and explosion and… action."

"No, why would I want to see that?"

"Well, I don't know, men usually like action movies."

"Why?" John frowned and tilted his head slightly.

"Uhh something about those movies being manly." She shook her head. "Never mind," John nodded "I suppose you won't like romance movies."

"What are they about? The only movies I saw with Deja were about important historical moments, scientifically discoveries, or-" Alex interrupted him.

"Yeah, those are not movies at all. Those are documentals, meant to teach something and not entertain."

"But I was entertained."

"Still a documental, I'll play a random documental." Alex grabbed her data pad and started scrolling though movie categories until she found the documental, whatever she did on the data pad it showed on the TV. "See? There's a separate area just for boring documentals." She clicked on a random tittle which turned out to be a documental about the discovery of slipspace.

"I've seen that one." Alex nodded. "It is quite a bit entertaining."

"I gotta admit it was quite entertaining." John looked at her with a questioning look. "Ok, maybe I didn't give you a perfect description. There's a reason why I'm not a teacher." She took down the documental and returned to the categories.

"What is fantasy?"

"Dragons, swords, magic, strange creatures, destiny, strange lands where everything is possible… I could go on forever." She shifted in her seat and grabbed a pillow to hold in her arms. "I think this could be a perfect category for a beginner."

"Please don't show him children's movies!" Zoe shouted from across the room.

"I'm showing him either 'the hobbit' or 'Harry potter'."

"Go for the hobbit, I'm going to take a nap. Bye."

"What is a hobbit?"

"You'll see."

She played the movie and was more interested in seeing his confused expression slowly become interested. Alex had to pause it once or twice to discuss some of the finer details of the plot. John was so into the movie that he started analyzing it far too seriously. Alex was amused, especially when the movie ended.

"Wait, that's it? That can't be the end of it."

"It's not, there are two parts remaining."

"Why are you not playing them?" He barked at her, Alex raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything.

The boys arrived with food and alcohol during the middle of the second movie. John was leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees. Alex was trying not to smile too much. Scott asked about Zoe and Alex pointed towards her bedroom. He saw the silent command to shut up. Scott looked at the incredibly old movie and decided to sit down on a couch to watch it with them. Louis sat down on the floor with his back against Scott's couch.

John asked Alex to play the third one.

Louis fell asleep, Scott woke him up and Louis disappeared shortly after.

John had some questions about Elves and magic and several questions about what the difference was between a Hobbit and a Dwarf and a Human apart from size. Alex was an actual geek and was able to answer most of the questions. Scott frowned every time she paused the movie to answer one of John's questions.

Alex was curled up on the couch next to John, careful not to get into his personal space. It was becoming harder and harder to keep herself from resting her head on his shoulder. He was no longer leaning forward, instead he was sitting back to keep his head closer to Alex. He did this only because otherwise he would need to raise his voice which disturbed Scott. They made some quick sandwiches for dinner and continued watching the movie.

Alex and John entered a small discussion on Bilbo's loyalty and how he had betrayed Thorin. Alex explaining why it was for Thorin's good. The Chief had no trouble seeing that, he just wasn't too accepting on the clear betrayal of the King's trust. He got into a mood where he was clearly angry with Bilbo, starting a speech on the importance of loyalty. He stopped when he saw Alex's small face.

"Why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling."

"Yes, you are. Why?"

"I really don't know, I guess I'm smiling because you are clearly enjoying this."

"How can you tell?" John raised his eyebrows in surprise. Alex shrugged and hit play.

The movie ended with Alex shedding a small tear when Thorin died. John was totally confused. He knew that tears always meant bad things. Although he knew people sometimes cried when they were happy. Alex was not happy. That meant that she was probably sad… or in pain. Soldiers sometimes cried when they had a bullet lodged in their body. He wanted to ask her about it, but then he figured that there would be nothing he would be able to do if show was sad. He tried to ignore her tear and focused on the end of the movie.

"So that's it?"

"Well, there is another trilogy about Frodo and the ring." She yawned.

"Can we watch it?"

"Sure." Alex smiled and set up the lord of the rings to play in order without her having to do anything. She placed her data pad on the floor and curled up in the couch.

The movie started and Scott groaned in exasperation. He have Alex an annoyed and tired look and mumbled something that sounded like "goodnight, I'll see you later." He winked at Alex who hummed in response.

John was curious about the interaction, but didn't comment. He just kept watching the movie. It was estrange how he tried to forget everything to feel more immersed into the storyline. At times, it felt like not much was going on outside his mind. He found it both disturbing and relaxing. His skin still itched with a need to do something, with the need to make sure people were safe. He knew there was a fight in Sanghelios in which he could be participating. He knew there was something else he could be doing. He hated resting, it gave him time to think.

The movie kept him from thinking about himself, making him focus on the characters instead. He had paused the movie with the voice control to Alex about the Gollum and how it had lived so long. Alex explained him about races and their different lifespans and how Elves were supposed to be immortal. He was far too interested in the female Elf and Aragorn. It was amusing for Alex to see him so invested in the movie.

It was late, she was tired, the couch was hard but she felt comfortable enough. John had stopped asking her questions and she had seen the money several times already.

John didn't see when Alex fell asleep, he had some questions about the ghost army but when he turned to ask Alex about it she was gone to the world.

"Alex?" he asked her. His deep voice didn't bother her at all, she responded by snuggling her pillow. Her body was curled up in an awkward position, she was trying too hard not to touch him and her body was quite large. John's lip quirked a bit in a small almost undetectable smile.

The credits of the movie called his attention. John stood up, careful not to disturb Alex. He shut down the TV and opened the door to Alex's room before gently picking her up with an arm on her back and the other behind her knees.

You know how in the movies or sappy romance novels the man carries the sleeping girl to her room, she subconsciously wraps her arms around his neck or snuggles in his chest, and he tucks her in bed before kissing her forehead and murmuring a sweet 'goodnight'?

Yeah that didn't quite happen.

Alex woke up when she was midair, her eyes wide and her body trying to regain its footing. John was too surprised to keep her steady and dropped Alex. He took a step back when Alex tried to kick his face with a knee while still in his arms. She landed gracefully with a hand on the floor and a leg spread sideways ready for running or kicking, eyes wide and scanning her surroundings like a caged animal. John had his hands up in self-defense with his fingers spread.

"What the fuck?" Alex's breathing was still coming in quick succession. "What were you doing?" rhetorical question "you scared me… so- sorry for trying to hit you… I uh… sorry." Alex deflated and sat on the floor, her breathing was back to normal in a few seconds and she was trying to avoid eye contact.

"I'm sorry for waking you… you looked uncomfortable there." He rubbed his neck with a hand, Alex looked up at him and placed her attention on the faded T shaped scars on his wrists. She felt so bad for reacting badly. She also felt awkward, but that wasn't new. It took her a few minutes to completely relax.

John had seen that reaction in several soldiers. There were several types of light sleepers, those that looked like they were having a heart attack, the lazy groggy ones that never rested and the ones who woke up fighting. John hadn't quite seen it then, but Alex looked completely scared.

Alex stood up and stretched up her arms, her shirt rising up a bit and making the feather tattoo visible. John tried not to look.

"Listen, I'm sorry for hitting you, I usually don't sleep and if I do then I'm a light sleeper." She laughed sardonically and shook her head. "Uhh- 'night John." She gave him a thin lipped smile. He recognized this as an uncomfortable gesture of reassurance.

He nodded and saw her retreat to her own room. He didn't give the whole thing much thought. Accidents like that happened all the time in the army. Trauma changed people, not him, just people.


End file.
